Bijuu Daughters: Guidance from the Future
by Gelasia-kitty
Summary: This time the shinigami didn't just seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. He also sealed the soul of one Nii Yugito, having lived her life and died in the future. T for language, may be upgraded. FemNaru
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do however dream it.

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Biju/kami think"**_

Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

The Yondaime, Minato watched from the top of a nearby tree as the raging Kyuubi decimated his forces, breaking through the walls of the village. He knew something had to happen, to get rid of this monster. Red chakra flames enveloped people, and the killing intent dropped many to their knees for easy pickings with paw swipes. The kyuubi had always been so quiet. It rarely communicated to Kushina, but it was never this angry. Something had happened to his wife, deep within the temple, miles away, while giving birth to their son. He set his mouth in a determined line, shifting his son in one arm as the baby whimpered. Looking down at the newborn, his eyes softened.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I hope you can forgive me," he whispered softly, stroking the blond fuzz on the babies head with his other hand. Drawing his eyes back to the Kyuubi, his eyes hardened. "I need to get this demon out of here before more damage is done." This would be the longest Hiraishin he had ever attempted, having placed a large seal miles away. Transporting an object such as the Kyuubi would be a challenge as well. But he had calculated this carefully. He would be able to restrain the Kyuubi temporarily in one spot so it could not destroy,with Gamabunta, for at least several minutes, and complete the sealing of the Kyuubi as his son.

Minato knew the life of a jinchuriki was hard. But if he didn't seal the fox more lives would be lost. The father of his first son knew that he couldn't seal the child in any other but his own. There was a note left in his pocket that would be found with the child. The child would be raised a hero. He had faith in his village that his wishes would be honored. Only a few seconds had passed as this thoughts rushed through his head. Powering his feet with chakra, he pushed off the tree, sending the whole mighty tree tumbling, as he leapt on the Kyuubi's head. A roar of rage tore out of the Kyuubi, before a crack of yellow lightning enveloped it, and it seemed to vanish.

The shinobi fighting the monster were shocked, unable to comprehend what had happened. But a roar sounded in the distance, and the eerie silence was puncuated by a shout. "The Hokage has taken the beast away!" Undecided whether to follow or leave this up to their capable leader, there was a pause.

But not in one man. His curiosity could not be abated. Having watched from the sidelines, he rushed through the treetops unnoticed. The shinobi had waited too long, even as a few started moving reluctantly forward, that few minutes was enough to decide the battle.

Gamabunta was panting. The battle had been won conclusively, but at such cost. In restraining the Kyuubi with Gambunta but already weakened by childbirth and hemorrhaging, Kushina died before the sealing was complete. But those precious seconds were what it took to start the sealing. Minato was dead, and the sealing was being completed by the unseen shinigami. The giant toad knew he was at the end of his line, he would soon dispell whether he wanted to or not. But he watched the seals, both on the child, and seeming to be floating in the air around the boy. He knew he had to watch as long as he possibly could, so taking steady breaths he pinpointed on the small form.

He couldn't see the Shinigami, but the Shinigami could see him. Many people would say the Shinigami was heartless. That he was devoid of feelings, had a frightening appearance, and killed on a whim. They would be wrong. They would also be wrong in thinking Shinigami operated by human constraints, as many people inflict on what they know of Gods. But the diety was compassionate, both for the living and the dead. He lived outside of time, and knew the atrocities that would come if this boy could not complete his task. The thousands of deaths, and the many bringing back to life. Shinigami understood Nagato's weak will and growing grief, he knew the hope that Nagato had started to feel when he brought the dead back to life.

The embodiment of death felt rage at the forbidden jutsu that the snake and his minion used to bring the dead back only to use them as puppets, having to sacrifice anothers life for the deed. Naruto was the nexus, the pivotal point. And the kami of life, death, and rebirth knew the boy was going to need all the help he could get. Out of all the souls he could bring back to help Naruto, one stuck out in his mind. Nii Yugito was a pained woman. A jinchuriki like Naruto, but having known at an early age the struggles and truth. She was forced to train abomidable ways, but grew into a strong woman with deep loyalty for her family. Even in her death she swore to take down the two that killed her, so that her people would not suffer.

She had a close control over her bijuu too, although it was not a perfect relationship like the container of the hachibi. These life skills were what were needed to help the kyuubi jinchuriki. While the sealing was completing, the Shinigami brought Yugito to the world between life and death.

Yugito slowly drew out of her haze as she started to remember her life, death, and undeath. She had been resting since the end, and she knew the end wasn't pretty. She rose her eyes to take in her surroudings. It was mistly and light, but indistinquished. A shadow approached and she reflexibly reached for her kunai pouch. She near jumped when she realized she didn't have any gear. And looking at her hands she saw she was transparent and little more than a ghost, almost indistinquished herself. The mist cleared slightly, revealing a figure.

A creature with the appearance of a middle age man stood before her, hands tucked in his pockets. He was wearing very casual clothes, black jeans, a tshirt, and a trench coat. He had bristle around his chin and cheeks, and looked very tired. The Shinigami was none of that, but the appearance was prefered to relax the people he interacted with. Behind him, two wings of bone stretched, little flames spotting over it. Yugito met his eyes and knew they were endless, the galaxies drifting through him. All this was caught in a moment.

**"Nii Yugito,"** the kami, for he must have been one, she thought, greeted.

"What do you want?" she said, her voice hoarse from disuse. She cringed at her rudeness, belatedly realizing it would do not good to offend a Kami. "Kami-sama," she corrected. "How can I help you?"

Shinigami smiled warmly. **"Do not fear,**" he said. **"Your honorable life has been acknowledged, but we need to you go back, and stop the damage before it occurs." **

Her eyes widened. '_A second chance at life! She could protect her precious people and stop the evil from sweeping the nations.'_

**"Not quite,"** Shinigami said, answer her thoughts. **"A life that has been led cannot simply be reborn without the rules of the universe being violated, which comes at great cost." **

Yugito felt herself tearing up. "Then what…?"

**"I need you to assist the child, Naruto,"** he said. Images flicked across the space around her, showing the life, and eventual death of the child of prophecy. **"Without guidance he cannot grow, and if he does not grow he cannot win, and the prophecy will never be fulfilled. Many will suffer."**

"What do I need to do?" she asked.

He nodded once, as if accepting her answer that she would help, having known her thoughts.** "You will be sealed within the child at his birth, and with the Kyuubi train and protect him."** He frowned momentarily, his eyes saddened. **"And be the family he never had."**

"I will," she promised, remembering her own painful childhood. "I won't abandoned him." She wondered if she could change her own death as well, and save the life of her family.

The shinigami raised his hands in front of her, seals growing as the images fading.** "You might want to close your eyes Nii Yugito,"** he started, **"Or you may become extremely disoriented." **

Already very disoriented, she decided to trust the kami, and closed her eyes. A rushing feeling filled her, and Naruto, as the world faded to black. She could feel demonic chakra entering her. "This is..?"**_ 'The kyuubi will be split into two parts,'_** a voice in her mind told her. '_**Half into you, and half into Naruto.' **_Understanding, she reluctantly allowed herself to accept the chakra.

She found herself oddly feeling sleepy, and she drifted off. In the distance a faint roar is heard, before disappearing.

Gamabunta watched as the seal arrays vanished. He knew someone would be here soon, so he raised his hands to do the signs to dispell easier. But something gave him pause. Flames surrounded Naruto, blue and red, mixing sometimes to purple. He no longer could see Naruto, but the shape inside the flames shifted and grew. His eyes blurred momentarily in fatigue, but as his vision cleared he knew there was something different. A little girl, no more than a toddler, but definitely not a newborn, and not a boy in any case, lay upon Minato's chest. Her long red hair was almost identical to Kushina's, and her face turned, in her sleep, bearing whisker marks. Two fox ears twitched on her head before growing still, and Gamabunta even saw a tail laying over her legs.

_'Jiraiya will need to know,'_ he thought to himself. '_I need to get back and send someone to inform him.' _The massive amphibian dispelled, leaving the child alone, knowing that safe forces would be there soon.

"Kukukuku.." a voice laughed out of the trees, and a man seemed to slither out. Orochimaru stood before the body of Minato and peered down at the child. "How curious.." he commented, lifting her tail and dropping it. He picked the child up. "I will take her with me, and find out the secrets behind this mystery.." he said to himself. He sensed forms coming close, and shushined away. A note fell out of Minato's pocket, only to be found by Sarutobi Hiruzen, and unable to find the child, will bury the story in secrecy, praying for the safety of the child.

A.N. A sleepless night and a strange dream ends up with the first chapter of a fanfic. May continue. May not. I want to continue but I'm a slow updater. Thank you guys for reading. Reviews are great, and thank you for those as well.


	2. Introductions: Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do however own a cat.

A.N. Thanks for the reviews everyone! And the many favorites and story alerts

**Read the bottom A.N. for voting for future pairings.**

I'm going to roughly summarize what turned Naruto into a girl with fox features. I'm not sure I'll actually explain it in the story so I'm going to explain my reasonings to you now. In the original story, Naruto only had half the Kyuubi's chakra sealed within him. The other half was sealed inside the Shinigami. But in this case Naruto has both sides of the chakra, and the chakra and spirit of an adult woman. A newborns body is no way prepared for that much opposing chakra. Along with the fact Kushina's spirit and some of her chakra is sealed in Naruto, this transforms Naruto into a girl with Kushina red hair. But with both parts of the Kyuubi sealed within her, she has to compensate for that, so she has fox ears and a tail. The chakra of adults and a millenia old source of chakra causes her to age into a toddler, roughly two-three years old.

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Bijuu/kami think"**_

Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

**Chapter 2: Introductions: Part 1**

The first thing Yugito heard was a dripping noise, repetitively echoing through what seemed to be a cellar. She felt cool stone under her. Sitting up, she took her head in her hands, the feeling of spinning slowly leaving her. _'Ugh, I feel like I was run through a washer..'_

Meters away from her the Kyuubi groggily blinked. He sat up quickly with a snarl. **"NO! THAT BLASTED UCHIHA HAS ME TRAPPED AGAIN!" **His eyes swivelled down to the blonde so frustratingly close to the bars of his cage. **"YOU! MY WRETCHED JAILER! I SHOULD KILL YOU!"** Running, he smashed into the cage, swiping desperately at the young woman before him.

With a rapid spring, she leapt away from the paw, as the claws gouged into the ground. "Oh shut up you!" Yugito shouted at him. "It was bad enough being the container of Nibi, do I have to beat you down too?" A snarl met her.

**"SO YOU HAVE CAGED MANY BIJUU, YOU HORRIBLE WOMAN. I SHOULD KILL YOU!" **he raged. Killing intent flooded the room, but he gave pause when a killing intent poured from the her as well, matching him.

"YOU IDIOT! Bijuu can't be sealed in adults! I thought the King of Bijuu would be smart enough to realize that! You aren't sealed in me! We are sealed in here together!" Yugito snarled back at him. The killing intent from Kyuubi slowly faded as he stared at her befuddled.

**"I don't understand.." **he reluctantly admitted. He hated when he was surprised like this. **"Why are you here?" **Yugito slumped. She had hates as well, and explaining complicated things was one of them.

"I'm not entirely sure myself. I was contacted by the Shinigami to assist Naruto, your jinchuriki, in stopping Uchiha Madara," she started. She was soon interrupted. **"How do you know of that wicked person?" **he growled at her. **"Very few people even know he exists."**

"Well, I'm not from this time," She continued. "I was sent here from the future. I was the container of the Nibi, as I told you, and I was killed by Akatsuki, the ones following Madara. But that doesn't end it, by some sick pervasion I was brought back to life, only to be controlled to fight on that side."

**"Why should I believe you?"** he hissed at her. **"Time is unopposeable." **

"Because I met you there. Your name, its Kurama right?" Yugito asked. The Kyuubi near jumped in alarm before settling down. **"I have told no one that name in many many years.. I think I believe you now." **

Kurama sighed. **"But assisting my jailer will be no easy task. I'm angry that I am sealed..why does this boy matter to the battle?" **He looked fairly disgusted at the idea of being helpful to the one who he was caged in.

"I don't know all of it," Yugito admitted, "But the Shinigami mentioned a prophecy." Kurama rumbled deep in his chest.

**"I agree, then," **he started. **"As much as I hate to admit it, prophecies are powerful things. I do want to ask though," **he continued. **"Is there any way you can get me out of this cage?" **He eyed the damp and miserable sewer he was in disgustedly.

Yugito approached the cage, eying the seal. "I can try." She reached for it, and in a shock of yellow lightning she found she was opposed. She leapt backwards, preparing for attack. The lightning faded, revealing two figures. One was a red haired woman of great beauty, and the other was a blonde haired man, with blue eyes. She recognized the man as Yellow Flash, the Yondaime Hokage, from the Bingo Books.

The two figures seemed startled to be there, and even more startled that there was another presence in there. "Who are you?" Minato growled, getting into stance, a kunai drawn. "What have you done with my son?" the red haired woman growled. Yugito froze in remembering that the woman was the Bloody Habenero, a powerful woman and a dangerous one as well.

Minato narrowed his eyes menacingly, and Kushina matched his stance. In sync they both throw kunai at Yugito. Yugito dodges one, but the lands into the path of the other. 'Crap,' she thought. 'This is going to hurt.' But with a flair of red and blue chakra, large seals grew around her, creating a shield to protect her.

Shocked, both fall out of stance. "Is that..?" Kushina started. "Yes," Minato said. "Those are my seals. Who are you, and what is going on?" Yugito slumped in relief as the both ceased to attacked her and seemed to want to listen.

"My name is Nii Yugito," She started. "The Shinigami that sealed the Kyuubi brought me back to protect and take care of Naruto." Yugito approached the duo. "I had convinced the Kyuubi to help, but this mindscape is not exactly ideal for helping Naruto."

Minato, becoming aware of his surroundings, took a glance around. His posture relaxed. "I can see what you mean," he said. "You are truly here to help Naruto?" He bowed slightly to Yugito.

"You have my thanks then," he said. Kushina bowed as well. "And mine. But Minato? Now that the safeguard has been activated we have no way to contact Naruto in the future.." Minato sighed, knowing this was the case.

Yugito frowned. "Is there any way I can help?" Minato tilted his head as he thought. "As I created this mindscape with my seals, I should be able to affect it," He started. "In that way I can create a way to share memories with you." He placed his hand on the ground, pouring his chakra into it. The world seemed to grow blurry. "Kushina," he said in a strained voice, "I need your help." Kushina places her hand on Minato and pours her chakra into him. The world begins to clear.

Yugito looked around in surprise. They were now in the front yard of a large house, with a forest to the side, and what seemed to be a training field in the clearing. What surprised her even more was that Kurama was gone, and in his place was a tall man with red hair and eyes, and fox tail and ears. He had slit eyes, and was in a crimson haori, hip length, with ninja pants and sandals. He had a thin collar around his neck, and a small pendant with microscopic seals on it. It was almost unnoticeable unless you were looking for it.

**"Well,"** Kurama started. **"This is much more comfortable." **Minato turned and his eyes widened. "I only did the collar," he said. "How in the world did you become a man?"

**"Fool," **he chuckled. **"I am a sentient mass of chakra that is of great age and power. How hard is simple transformation henge, when I am already a kitsune." **Minato deemed to look embarrassed, and Kushina slowly drew her gaping jaw up. Yugito simply chuckled, the unbelievable never seeming impossible after her strange recent experiences.

"In any case," Yugito said. "This will make things easier." She paused as the forms of Minato and Kushina seemed to flicker. Minato drew himself up wearily. "We are almost burnt out of chakra. We will fade soon. The house has everything you need for Naruto." Kushina took Yugito's hands into hers, surprising the blonde woman. "Please," Kushina pled as she started to fade. "Take care of my son.." The gentle touch on Yugito's hands slowly dissolved as Kushina faded, and Minato, dissolving from the bottom up, smiled wryly. "I'm counting on you," he said. He turned, almost gone, and faced the kyuubi. "I'm trusting you this time. Please do the right thing." And as the last of Minato dissolved, a crackle of yellow lightning flared across the sky before disappearing.

Yugito turned to Kurama. "We better see what they left behind, so that we can get prepared for when Naruto visits." Kurama nodded, and his eyes seemed to soften as he took in the surroundings. **"This.. none of the other seals or containers did something like this for me," **He started. **"And for that, I won't betray their trust." **His eyes hardened again. **"Naruto will be prepared for taking on that damned Uchiha, I swear this." **

And with that promise, the two of them entered the house, cemented in the belief that they would be able to change the future.

A.N.

Okay, eventually this is going to add romance into it, but not until much later. I have a few I'd like to see, and some I'm unsure, but I refuse to turn this into a harem. Therefore I'm asking for help in choosing characters to pair Naruto with.

The ones I sort of what to see. When you review your vote it will be counted and added to the next chapter.

Gaara: 0

Haku: 0

Aburame Shino: 0

Rock Lee: 0

Kaguya Kimimaro: 0

Any others you'd like to suggest? Well if you do, please tell me roughly what you expect out of the relationship and how they would meet. I've already decided that Naruto will be on team Gai and this is not something I'm going to compromise. If you can tell me why you choose one of the already posted above ones as well, I'd love to hear that too. If not, just votes are good.


	3. Introductions: Part 2

A.N. Thanks for your support so far! I'm working on these chapters in advance but only posting one a day. I'll try to answer your reviews by hand, if possible. Look at the bottom of this chapter for voting so far.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but sometimes I wish I did. I would take much better care of him than the Konoha villagers : Poor Naru-chan

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Bijuu/kami think"**_

Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

Ch. 2 : Introductions: Part 2

_'This was not entirely thought out,'_ the snake Sannin thought with a sigh, as he looked around his gorey and maybe just a little filthy experiment lab, if he would admit it to himself. He glanced at the young girl in his arms. _'For the child to be properly researched upon, she has to grow up as close to a regular child as possible, at least for the intitial years.' _Orochimaru decided, sighing. _'And this lab would prevent that.' _

So with another deep sigh he strode to his study, opening the door with one hand. The office was sealed to only allow him in or out, and he used it as both a study and a place to rest when he was here overnight. The bed was small but comfortable, and since he didn't use it very often, basically untouched. He placed the child upon the bed.

He spent a moment examining the child. _'Yes,' _he realized. _'The child is fully female. She seems to be around two years old, but that is only a rough estimate.' _He turned the child over and examined the tail. _'Fully attached,' _he thought. _'And poseable. How remarkable!' _Putting the child on its back again he realized the two ears were the only ears she had, and as he touched them and she squirmed in her sleep, very sensitive. _'A possible weak point,'_ he decided.

He had been dispassionate about her nudity, but as she started to shiver he lay a blanket over her. "I cannot have you getting sick," he said quietly. He looked around the office, ignoring the child for a moment. _'This office is no where near workable to attend to a child.' _he said with his lip curling. Orochimaru wondered for a moment if the experiment was worth it. But he was nothing if not stubborn, and so he started to prepare.

Hand seals flashed as he invisioned what he wanted. Snake, boar, ram. He slammed his hand to the ground next to the wall and called out, "Doton:_"Kiseki Chikashitsu!"_" The very earth rumbled as a small hallway of stone broke through the wall, leading into stone stairways. He knew the stairway would lead to a double room, and observation deck and what would be the childs room.

Speaking of the child, at the noise she whimpered and turned in her sleep. Orochimaru, startled, turned and pressed a pressure point, insuring she would stay asleep until he woke her. _'That was too close,' _he angrily thought. _'I am getting lax, and I cannot afford that.'_ Taking a lamp, he descended into the room.

The stone walls were perfect for what he needed, but incomplete for a child to live in. "I have things to do," he muttered to himself. "That do not include building a nursery." But if he couldn't do it, he knew his clones could. Creating several earth clones, he had them henge into very bland villagers and shushin to a safe location.

Orochimaru spent the rest of the day establishing his alibi. The village, damaged, wasn't being very careful about watching who was going in and out of the village. He assisted his teacher with calming the villagers, secretly smirking when his teacher claimed the Kyuubi had been destroyed.

Meanwhile the clones reluctantly turned the room into a nursery. There were so many orphans from the kyuubi's attack that claiming they had taken in one got them supplies both easily and cheaply. The room quickly turned into a childs home. There was a small crib, painted pastel walls (The most reluctant of a job, as the clone had ended up with paint all over him. He cursed his creator, but knew this was important.) And area where she could play, and a small learning area. A window went between the observation room and nursery, with a genjustu that made it appear to be the outdoors from inside the nursery.

Dispelling his clones, he dressed the child in the childrens clothing one purchased, and taking the child, placed her in her crib, along with a plush snake. He wondered what inspired that clone to buy a plush snake, before dismissing it from his mind. Tapping the pressure point that would release her from forced sleep, he summoned a snake to watch her and left the room, unable to ignore his own experiments any longer.

The snake, known as Dokujaki, pulled itself up the bars of the crib and watched the child. _'This is the most unusual request I've ever gotten from Orochimaru-sama," _the young snake thought. He was one of the few young snakes that still had the capabilities of talking, and along with his poisonous nature he was often assisting Orochimaru on stealth and assasin missions. But babysitting a toddler? He wondered what he'd done to be punished so. He watched the child sleep for nearly an hour, wondering when this chore would be over.

The child slowly stirred, her eyelashes fluttering. Clear and endless blue eyes opened and she blinked as she tried to focus. Rubbing her face, she yawned and sat up. Dokujaki found this sort of cute, despite the burden of having to watch her, and hiss chuckled to himself. Those clear blue eyes shifted to him and widened. "Ah!" she cried, scooting against the bar. "Is a hissy!" she exclaimed. The snake stilled and watched her. The girl reached around the cage as if looking for something. All she found was her new blankie and stuffed snake. Pulling the stuffed snake into her lap she looked at the snake in her hands and the snake on the bars.

"More hissy!" she exclaimed. Her eyes shifted between the two for a second, and Dokujaki stared warily at her. But a giggle from the child caused him to relax, as she held the stuffed snake up. "Hissy be friends?" she asked, smiling shyly. "Me be friends hissy?" The snake slightly opened his mouth, his form of a smile.

"We'll see little fox," he said to her, the slight hissy undertone. The girl jumped. "Hissy talk?" she cried excitedly. Her grabby hands reached for the snake and he recoiled slightly in surprise.

"Yes," Dokujaki said, "I do talk. Wait here," he continued. "I'll be fetching Orochimaru-sama." He climbed down the crib and exited through the small vent in thewall that Orochimaru had prepared for this very reason. Most of the rooms had these vents, so his snakes could go between rooms easily. Climbing up to the lab where he could sense Orochimaru.

The sannin turned to the vent he heard creaking open. "You have news for me Dokujaki?" he asked, putting the vial of enzymes he was working on down carefully. He focused his full attention to the small venomous snake.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," Dokujaki answered. "The child has awakened. She seems to be able to talk, and understands basic things." The man raised an eyebrow. He knew the child had just been born, regardless of the age she had shown now. To be able to talk and understand certain things? This was getting more curious by the minute!

"I will go to her then," he said. "You may dispell if you wish." He was faintly surprised when the snake shook his head.

"No," Dokujaki started. "The child is far too interesting to leave yet," he continued. "And its a rarity to find a human that does not fear me. I do not wish to leave yet." Orochimaru nodded, acknowledging this.

"I understand," he said. "But stay out of sight until I have finished talking to the child." He entered his office and descended the stairs, unlocking the door and entering it, before locking it behind him.

The girl watched him through the bars, before using them to pull herself up and watch him as he approached. She seemed fearless at the face of one of the most dangerous and perhaps creepy shinobi in all Konoha. Orochimaru watched the child as she inspected him, a little shocked she was able to stand at all, having never stood in her life. Before he could speak, she spoke first.

"Ish you Roshimaru-shama?" she asked, slurring her words in a childlike manner. A tick developed over his eyebrown, almost unnoticeable on his impassive face. _'Lord Filter paper boy?' _he thought wryly.

"No, I am Orochimaru, you will call me Orochimaru-sama," He said sternly, in a commanding voice. His eyes narrowed as she tilted her head.

"Maruchi-shama?" she asked. _'Lord multi? Well that's a little better.' _he thought, resisting the desire to massage his temple. "No," he started, pausing for a moment.

"Hebi-shama?" she asked, an innocent look on her face, but amusement dancing on her face. Orochimaru couldn't help the slight grin that snuck its way across his face, before he stiffled it. _'Lord snake..'_ he wondered.

"That will do," Orochimaru agreed. _'Better than lord filter paper boy in any case,'_ he admitted to himself. The girl waved her arms in victory.

"Yay! Hebi-shama!"

The noise nearly made Orochimaru cringe, and laughing to himself Dokujaki watched from the vent. _'What have I gotten myself into?' _Orochimaru muttered in his mind.

A.N. I'm ending it here. You may wonder why Orochimaru hasn't just hurt her already. Its clear from what I've seen Orochimaru is very stubborn when he wants something, and can win loyalty easily if given the right reason. Sasuke was trained, not tortured, and the people of Oto often thought of him well. Something convinced Kimimaro to be so loyal, and so we may just see what happens behind the scenes when Orochimaru finds himself having to play nice.

For the votes: I'm adding Sora and Yamato to the predetermined list. I find they may have good potential, but I'm unsure on that yet. I really think all these people have good potential to be loves. Please vote! And remember, if you have someone not on this list that you'd like to see, please add why you choose that person and what manner they would meet. She's already going to be on a team Gai, with Neji and Lee. In this story Yamato is the same "age" as Naruto.

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1/2

Haku: 1/2

Aburame Shino: 1

Rock Lee: 0

Kaguya Kimimaro: 4

Sora: 0

Yamato:0


	4. Their Grief

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but Orochimaru is certainly trying!

**Orochimaru: Kukukukuku..**

A.N. The first few chapters are going to be pretty dark but it will lighten up soon. Please stay with me! Don't forget to look at voting stats at the bottom!

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Bijuu/kami think"**_

Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

Ch 4: Their Grief

The Toad Sage didn't feel that great and amazing right now. He couldn't even make himself stay in Konoha to help with the rebuilding after it was established that Naruto was nowhere in the village. There was too much loss there, so much pain.

Jiraiya slumped over in the bar which he had dragged himself to, several villages away from Konoha. He remembered the shock, when the messenger had come to him.

_Flashback:_

_After returning to Konoha after the Kyuubi attack, Jiraiya had regretted not being there, for he felt that if he had, Minato and Kushina wouldn't have sacrificed themselves. The greater loss was that Naruto was missing._

_His teacher, Hiruzen, had assumed the mantle of Hokage, but even he couldn't explain where Naruto was. It wasn't until he was alone in his hotel room, mourning, that Jiraiya had received any news._

_He was shocked when a puff of smoke, and the telltale flair of chakra announced a summon appearing. Very rarely did the toads deem to send a summon when not called for by their summoner. The sannin, turning, was surprised to see the little Kōsuke. _

_Kōsuke was no more than a foot tall, and very young by many measures. But he had inherited the post of messenger from his father. He pulled a scroll from his back, and handed it to the stunned Jiraiya, waiting for an answer. _

_The scroll, as he opened it, was simple and to the point, explaining the changes Naruto went through, and the fight between Minato and the Kyuubi. Jiraiya's eyes widened. 'A girl? That doesn't even make sense,' he thought. 'Why would Naruto turn into an older girl?'_

_But it was very clear by the scrolls information that this was indeed Naruto. But why was there no sign of her? He rolled the scroll up. _

_"Thank you," he started. "Please tell the others that Naruto is missing. I'm going to try to find him, or her as it seems." Kōsuke nodded. _

_"Can I get a scroll to share with them," he asked in a high pitched voice. It was obvious he had not been through his maturity yet. Jiraiya wrote out a quick scroll. He would need their help in finding the child. The connections the toads had with other summons were vital to his spy network. _

_Flashback end_

But now Jiraiya didn't even know where to start. He picked up his glass of sake, swirling the bitter liquid.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a powerful man. He was hailed as the God of Shinobi, the Professor, and yet, as he sat behind the desk in the Hokage's tower, fingering the hat that he would have to wear that felt like the weight of the world, he felt empty and powerless.

His retirement was supposed to be the end of fighting. Spending time with his family and only giving advice to those in need. Instead, tragedy struck, and he was forced to assume the mantle of Hokage once again.

He felt the loss keenly, and he closed his eyes, pained. _'Why did you have to die, Minato? Why does this burden have to be mine?' _he mourned to himself. _'And where is the child you left behind?' _

His search for the young boy had been fruitless, the crystal ball bringing up no images of the blonde haired little bundle. It was like the child had died, but no body had been found, and the Kyuubi was gone.

Raising the hat, Hiruzen looked at the symbol on the front. His resolve firmed, and he put the hat on, and stood. It was time to help his people recover, and there was no time for regretting the past. The child would be put aside for the people that need him here. It would be best for them to consider the Kyuubi dead.

At that, he left his office, ready to save his village.

It had only been a week. A week and yet the loss felt as strong and painful as it had at the beginning. In just just minutes he had lost the last of his family. Rin, dying in a attempt to save the life of one of the injured shinobi. Minato, Kushina, dead in the sealing. And the newborn baby, gone, forgotten, without a trace.

Hatake Kakashi struggled not to weep. But it was beyond him. His shoulders slumped as he stared at the memorial stone, the recently carved names blurring from his sight. From his exposed eyes a salty crystal tear fell, but from his covered eye a single drop of blood fell. He cleaned his face before taking a deep breath. He mustn't cry, he had to be strong for the village.

His gaze turned back towards the main part of the damaged village. Kakashi knew he should head back. They were desperate to attend to the needs of the village, so many shinobi dead. He turned back to the memorial stone. _'Just a little longer,'_ he thought. _'When will the losses end… and when will it ever stop hurting?'_

Maito Gai felt unnaturally solemn. He found himself, even with his new jounin status, put into heavy load rank D missions, because of his strength. As he lifted hundreds of pounds of wood planks to build the new lookout around the west gate, he exclaimed. "I'M GOING TO BUILD THIS GATE IN A DAY! IF I CANNOT, I WILL WALK AROUND THE VILLAGE A HUNDRED TIMES ON MY THUMBS!" The workers around him were mixed between chuckling and horrified. But he had done his job, they were distracted and able to work, instead of mourn.

But he felt much quieter in the inside. The loss of the Hokage had hurt many, but none so much as his Eternal Rival, Hatake Kakashi. He didn't know what to do. At the moment rebuilding was more important, but he told himself that as soon as he got spare time he would bring his friend out of his depression. Even annoyance was better than grief.

_'He is far too hip to let pain weigh him down,' _Gai thought. _'He needs the youthfulness brought back to his life to be able to function.' _And so Gai was going to do whatever was needed to bring his friend and rival out of his slump.

Gamabunta was concerned, as he sat to the side in the council of elder toads to discuss the lost child. The scroll that had been received and became the center of their conversation became a worrisome topic. Minato's child was missing, and there was no sign of her anywhere.

"We should contact the dog summons and have them scout for the child," one toad insisted.

"The scent may be gone by now!" Another toad exclaimed.

"What about alerting the different bird summons to look for the child?"

This was settled on the idea. To find the child through the birds. But no one realized the child would be underground..

Jiraiya stood, throwing a handful of ryō on the table for the sake. His plan was to connect with all his contacts in his spy network, and establish new ones, in hopes of finding the child. As he left, the bartender went to pick up the ryō. Picking up the glass he was surprised when it sloshed.

"What?" the bartender questioned rhetorically. "He didn't take a single sip?" He looked out the door that was now shut, wondering what had happened.

A.N. So far so good! Keep voting! Don't forget, if you want a character that has not been suggested, please post why you want that character and how they could have met. Enjoy the story!

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1/2

Haku: 1/2

Aburame Shino: 1

Rock Lee: 0

Kaguya Kimimaro: 5

Sora: 0

Yamato:0


	5. Exploring the Mindscape

Disclaimer: Naruto, oh Naruto, where oh where did you go? I do not own you this I know, but try I may for you to stow.

A.N. Thanks so much for all your reviews and alerts and such! I will do my best to keep working on this!

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Bijuu/kami think"**_

Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

Chapter 5: Exploring the Mindscape

Yugito sat in the massive library of the house that Minato had created. It seemed everything that Minato had ever learned, that Kushina had ever learned, it was all stored somewhere in this library. The indexing was a little complicated, because it was sorted by type, then by date it had been learned. It felt like it would take forever for this to be sorted through. Fūinjutsu seemed to be the leading thing for both, and as she glanced through the first book of theory, her mind wandered to when Minato and Kushina had first disappeared.

_Flashback_

_Kurama and Yugito locked eyes as they came to a decision. "We need to find out what they have left us," Yugito started. _

_**"I agree," **__Kurama responded. __**"You scout the inside,"**__ he continued. __**"And I'll scout the outside."**__ At that they went seperate ways. Yugito looked over her shoulder as Kurama shifted into a small nine tailed kitsune, before running off to the woods._

_Yugito went into the house, that opened at her touch. The first room was a living area, with bookshelves for casual reading, a small area to play in the corner, a cassette player with a rack of cassettes for the songs that Minato and Kushina had listened to, a rack of childrens songs that Kushina had been sung to as a child, and a rack of lessons, starting from a young age to a old age. This was the first room only, and already Yugito could tell this had been well thought out._

_She wondered at Minato's mind, being able to comprehend and create things so fast. Maybe it was just the fact he was already dead, and maybe it was because here, time had less meaning. Or maybe he was just a genius, because he was the famous Yondaime of Konohagakure. _

_There was an unnecessary but comforting kitchen dining area, several bedrooms, also unecessary, as there was no need for eating and sleeping. Still, it was nice to have the option available. There was an indoor dojo, a greenhouse, a swimming area, a armory, and a massive library. _

_She searched the library carefully, seeing the many books that had all the information that the two had ever learned. She was stunned and overwhelmed by the many available. She wondered how she would ever learn all this to teach Naruto. _

_It was then she found a almost unnoticeable door. It opened to basement level, a room covered in stones and seals. There was a pool full of strange liquid in the center, and rows upon rows of fist sized stones, each with a date on them. She took a stone, examining it. "K-2/3/3432" it said. It was not super heavy, but in a fit of clumsiness the very round stone slid through her fingers and fell into the pool._

_It started to glow, and approaching the pool Yugito was stunned to see Kushina's memories of her first kenjutsu lessons flicked through the pool. Drawn to the liquid, she sat on a stool behind the raised pool. Her hand touched the liquid, and in a shock mind went through a rapid change. She did not remember Kushina's lesson identically, but her muscles twitched as she remember each pose that Kushina was taught, the muscle memory and reflexes imprinting itself on her mind._

_She leaned back shakily as the memories ended and the stone rose to the top of the liquid. Reluctantly she took the stone, and placed it into its original rack. She took a look at another. _

_"M-4/21/3435" Taking the stone, she placed it into the water. It appeared Minato was with his team in a mission, where a festival was going on. Young Minato was jumping excitedly at a sweet he had recieved. A white haired man stood in the distance watching him. _

_Yugito touched the water, but the only thing she remembered was how the sweet tasted. It seemed that certain memories would teach skills, and others not. She tried several stones, and none of them taught her anything other than muscle memory abilities. How this taijutsu felt, how this chakra flow worked. But none of the actual knowledge beyond that. She couldn't use it to teach her seals, or to teach her history._

_But still, the pool was a great boon! She exited the house to greet Kurama, watching as the fox turned back into a man._

_**"There is a training area, a few miles of forest, and a strange clearing that I could not enter," **__he started. __**"It seems Naruto has to be the one to enter, or we must accompany him." **__Yugito nodded. "This house has many things we'd need to take care of him, and several that seemed unnecessary, but nice to have none the less." c_

_And so they began their habit of living there._

_End flashback_

Yugito had spent several weeks going through certain memories. Some of it was editted out, but others were very useful in learning. She would learn the muscle memory, then hit the library to read about how it worked.

Yugito would check on Kurama, but only find him meditating, trying to reach the child. He stopped at times to go outside and run, having not had the freedom to do so. He also spent some time learning basic things like how to cook, and enjoying the bed.

He maintained a constant flow of chakra to the child, probing how he was doing. But no matter what he did, he admitted to Yugito, he couldn't form a mental link with Naruto. Yugito and Kurama both wondered what was wrong.

They were worried, but they knew that eventually they could reach the child. As days had no meaning, weeks and months and what seemed like years passed as they learned more and continued to try to reach the child.

Yugito was already making simple seals, the muscle memory on how to make neat characters influencing her understood the theory clearly, but was unable to create her own designs. In any case, the memories she had encountered placed the Uzumaki clan as adept with fūinjutsu, in what seemed like a hereditary trait. She had faith the boy could learn seals better than she ever hope to realize.

And so they waited for Naruto, hoping eventually he would come to them.

A.N. Time skip? Not quite. You'll see! Next up! Naruto's childhood. Sorry if I'm making the chapters shorter and shorter. I'm breaking them up in small summaries then elaborating on the summaries, and this is really just a forerunner to explain how the mindscape was set up and how Yugito and Kurama are learning so they can teach Naruto. The next chapter will hopefully be longer!

Votes: Remember, if you want to suggest someone not already mentioned, please put your reasons why and how they would have met.

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1/2

Haku: 1/2

Aburame Shino: 1

Rock Lee: 0

Kaguya Kimimaro: 5

Sora: 0

Yamato:0


	6. Childhood

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

A.N. Thanks for your reviews. Enjoy this, biggest chapter yet!

"Person says"

_'Person thinks'_

**"Bijuu/kami says"**

_**'Bijuu/kami thinks'**_

"Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

Chapter 6: Childhood

And so the days passed. Dokujaki watched her all day, growing closer to the toddler. She learned how to use the child's potty fast, for if she didn't her diaper was only changed once a day. She played with her toys, and her food was dispensed by a machine that would drop her a bottle and some nutritious crackers every meal time.

This device could also be activated by Dokujaki, who was told to give her treats when she did exceptionally well, such as behaving all day or learning something new.

The toys, stored in a large storage scroll that doubled as a carpet, encouraged the girl to practice with her chakra. These toys also taught the child hand eye coordination. One toy was a ramp like board with holes in it, and bags that could be thrown into different holes.

This toy, when a certain level of success had been achieved, morphed into heavier bags and smaller toys. Its final form had different shapes that had to be thrown into their holes at a distance. She hadn't gotten to that point, but Dokujaki had told her about it and she was excited.

She was called child and girl by Hebi-sama. She was corrected quickly when she asked if Hebi-sama was her papa. Hebi-sama said he was her master, but she didn't know what master was.

Doki-niisan told her what it was a lot but Doki-niisan didn't explain very well. Doki-niisan called her little fox, or kit when he was happy with her. She liked it when he called her kit.

Other toys were big puzzles, figurines, stuffed animals. Doki-niisan always made her put them away, even when she was really tired. Doki-niisan showed her a special seal on the wall that opened a secret door. In the secret door were lots of childrens art supplies.

She was getting pretty good at finger painting and coloring, and had a lot of fun when Doki-niisan taught her tic-tac-toe. She wasn't able to win most the time, but she was getting better he said! She was surprised how easily he could hold things with his tail. She tried holding things with her tail and she wasn't able to.

And so the time passed. Dokujaki enjoyed watching the child and had started actually caring for the girl. Snakes weren't very parental usually, but with Orochimaru-sama gone most the time the small snake was a constant in her life. The unadulterated adoration she poured put on him could affect even the coldest of souls. He returned to the summon world of snakes less and less, preferring to take his meals in the Forest of Death, as dangerous as it was, so he could return faster.

It was even more dangerous when he started leaving out things in his report to Orochimaru-sama, and even subtly defying him when he started wanting to take blood and feed her drugs.

Luckily after the first vial of blood corroded his vials and disappeared, and when injected in a human recipient poisoned the human and ruined several test subjects, he decided to refrain from taking her blood. And the poisons and drugs in her system, only gave her a fever for an hour before burning away.

So the days passed. The girl grew better at finger dexterity and aim, but without room to run and limited food stayed very small. Her hair grew down to her ankles and without help from Hebi-sama, frustrated with her appearance, she would have never known how to brush it.

She grew out of one pieces and soon began dressing herself in big t-shirts, that Doki-niisan showed her how to use a ribbon to tie it at the waist. She thought the ribbons were pretty and with help from Doki-niisan, wrapped one around her hair that she would tie at the bottom over her shoulder. Her favorite color was orange and when Hebi-sama came to visit one night she pled and whined for more orange clothing.

She didn't think he was smiling this time when he bared his teeth at her. That night she had a hard time falling asleep, the image of his fangs drilled into her head. But when she finally did sleep, upon waking she found her clothing had several more orange outfits, and in the corner there was a black bear with a big orange bow.

She didn't know that Dokujaki had insisted on both, having convinced Orochimaru that if he got fed up with her whining and strangled her to death Orchimaru would lose a valuable test subject.

It seemed like things could continue on like that, but after a year of the same thing the girl got bored.

Orochimaru, descending the stairs, wondered what was so urgent that his seal that flaired when she was in dire distress activated. As he neared the door, which should have been soundproofed, he heard screaming. A crack ran up the wall, dropping some pebbles.

Orochimaru was suddenly very concerned about status of his test subject. He flung the door open and leaned away from the visible swirling malevolent chakra. The screaming sounds started distinguishing itself as words and he narrowed his eyes on the form.

"I WANNA GO OUTSIIIIDE!" she shrieked, laying on her stomach, kicking her feet and flailing her arms. "NOWWWW! " The scroll rug was burning away from her touch as her toys appeared and disappeared before being destroyed themselves. Dokujaki cowered in the corner, hiding behind the desk that's paint was slowly peeling back. Her clothes were little more than rags, and her hair swung around with the chakra.

He grit his teeth and pushed in to the room, the chakra like walking across a strong current on a breezy day. Picking her up by the tail he glared at her. "SHUT UP!" he snapped.

The girl grew still as the chakra faded, leaving a ruined room. She started to tear up, and raised her fisted hands to her blotchy face as she started to bawl.

"But..I wanna goooo..." she cried,tears pouring down her face. Resisting the urge to drop her he kneeled and put her on her feet.

"Do not disrespect me," he snarled, before forcing himself to calm. "You will get nothing by misbehaving," he told her sternly.

She lowered her hands and looked at him endearingly. "Hebi-sama, can I please go outside? " she said, her bottom lip sticking out. _'Great, now she's pouting,'_ he thought. _'I curse the day I decided to take this gaki in and not just dissect her.' _

"Look around you ignorant child," he lectured. "And see what you've done! " The girl, becoming more aware of her surroundings, looked around.

"Oops..." she said to herself. Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "Oops? " he growled. "Do you know how much work it is going to take to fix this? I do not have time for this! "

She shrunk back, frightened. He wanted to shake her, or slap her, but scaring her would do no good. He visibly calmed himself, and slipped a smiling mask on. "I will take you outside," he told her, raising his hand to prevent her from becoming too excited. _'Or you will think you are outside,' _he added mentally. "But you will stay inside your playpen, and will not bother me while I am working."

There was a toy he was eventually going to incorporate into this room, a small plastic jungle gym. He patted her shoulder. "You stay here and behave, and I will get you some toys for the yard," he concluded, leaving the smiling girl in Dokujaki's care as he left the room.

He had no intentions of letting her outside, not at this point, but he had a plan. Lifting the box of plastic bits into a large prisoners cage within his main experiment room. The cage was meant to frighten the prisoners into submission. His more gory experiments were on display, some in various stages of decomposition. There was another cage, where several test subjects, missing Kyuubi orphans between 2-12 watched him assemble the toddler playground.

Most of them were no longer able to process what was going on, but one boy, a test subject on the Senjuu bloodline, wondered idly if his captor had grown mad. A young boy, (who would later go by Yamato, so that is what will we call him) was only 3, and had always been here, the horrors of life inflicted on him constantly. The other children, the kyuubi orphans, would tell him stories of the outside, but having no memories himself outside it, was less traumatized by the horrible life afflicted on him, unable to lose his mind to the madness the test subjects often gained. This was the first time he had seen a toy, and didn't understand why it would be there.

Finishing the setup, Orochimaru left the cage he was in and entered his office. He was going to have to do this carefully. He decided on a genjutsu of a small yard, with a children's pen. Unsure on how to slant the other cage and his experiments, he decided on making her see a shed and him gardening. His lip curled in disgust. _'I, the legendary snake shinobi, gardening? Hardly.'_

He descended into the nursery. Opening the door he listened unnoticed as Dokujaki lectured the girl in a hissing and aggravated undertone. The girl answered with "Uh huh." and "I'm sorry." and "I won't." Satisfied, the sannin let a grin slip across his face. There was a reason he let such a small snake serve him.

He approached the two, and crouched before the child, picking her up and standing. "I'm sorry for being bad, Hebi-sama," she apologized quietly. "Can I go outside now? "

He gave her a penetrating glance, locking her eyes to his in almost a hypnotizing manner from which she felt she was unable to look away. He quickly did one handed signs with his free hand, and without calling out a name, cast the genjutsu over her.

Satisfied with the slightly glazed look in her eyes, he placed changed her into "outside" clothes, and put shoes on her for the first time. She tried to rub them off before a sharpened stern gaze froze her. "You will wear the shoes or we will not go outside," he said in a commanding voice.

Dokujaki looked on worriedly. The only outside here was the Forest of Death, hardly a place for a child. He opened his mouth to object, and Orochimaru subtly shook his head. Closing his mouth Dokujaki watched as Orochimaru took the child out of the room. The snake took a few minutes to pry open the damaged vent, and several more to crawl up towards the upper levels. On the first basement level, the experiment room, a giggle echoed out of the vent entrance. Leaving the vent, he saw the girl sliding down a small slight on a toddler playhouse within a cage, oblivious to the painful scenes around her.

_'I see..' _he thought in relief._ 'Only a genjutsu.' _He slithered over to the cage and entered the bars, watching the child play carefree.

Orochimaru stood in the doorway of the ruined nursery. _'I will kill that brat someday,' _he snarled silently. He got to rebuilding the room.

Yamato had thought there was nothing that could surprise him, having grown immune to the atrocities of this horrific place. But when what seemed to be a bouncing three year old, slightly blurry from his drugged state, came out, sitting on the monsters hip, he was stunned.

She squealed in excitement, a noise that seemed out of place surrounded by partially rotting and dismembered corpses, and pinned down bodies moaning in pain.

Having set her inside the cage and locking her in, Orochimaru turned away. The girl carefully climbed up the stairs on her new toy and shouted to him. "Thanks for taking me outside!"

Yamato watched as the monster nodded in acknowledgement, before turning to a experiment table, pressing a syringe of liquid into a unconscious "patient". Yamato turned to the girl who was facing toward his cage, and raised a shaking hand at her. She seemed to ignore it, before sliding down the slide with another squeal.

Understanding slowly fed into Yamato's mind. _'She's not seeing the same thing we are,'_ he realized. He didn't know what was more painful, seeing and knowing that a monster lives to torture you, or suffering ignorantly in a illusion of kindness your entire life. He felt he would never know. He wished idly they could have been friends. The other children bitterly turned away, but Yamato closed his eyes tiredly and fell into a restless sleep, comforted by the sounds of a happy child.

Meanwhile several earth clones curse their creator as they work on fixing the nursery.

And so it continued this way for several weeks. Several days a week Hebi-sama would take her "outside" while he worked on his "gardens". She was ignorant of the pain and suffering around her. Yamato hoped she would never realize what monsterous things surrounded her. Dokujaki was glad she had a place to play more actively so she could develop her muscles and balance. He was unsettled by the genjutsu, but was relieved she would not suffer. Orochimaru gained more data from her being around.

None of them realized one piece of data would changes things forever. It was an everyday spill, a child's accident. Dokujaki had observed this many times, and hoped Orochimaru would never realize it. She fell off her play house, scraped her hands and knees, and cut her head on the way down.

She wailed and between that and the amount of blood the head wound bled had him rushing in there to make sure his test subject was undamaged. He cleaned the wounds, only to grow silent and contemplative as the wounds sealed themselves with a hissing noise and glow. Dokujaki cursed mentally.

It only took a moment for Orochimaru to decide. Pushing a pressure point to knock her out, as a cruel grin slipped across his face. Dokujaki rose up with a glare. "What do you plan to do with the kit?" the snake asked tensely, trying not to sound disrespectful.

Orochimaru turned to the snake as the grin became menacing. "I'm going to test her healing capabities."

Yamato, recovering from a series of injections and tests, could only watch horrified as the monster stripped the girl and strapped her down, reaching for a scalpel. He closed his eyes and turned away from the scene as the cruel inhumane creature cackled.

"Kukukuku..."

A.N. I'm letting the user decide how vicious this was. The last part was really hard to write, putting Naruto in such a painful situation. Next chapter has Naruto meeting Yugito and Kurama, so hopefully that is better.

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they met. Remember from previous chapters, she will not be on team 7. She'll be on team Gai.

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1 and 1/2

Haku:1 and 1/2

Aburame Shino: 1

Rock Lee: 0

Kaguya Kimimaro: 6

Sora: 0

Yamato:0


	7. A Name and a Home

A.N. Thank you for all your reviews!

Disclaimer: Jiraiya don't dance but he owes me a loan. So I'll take my stance, Naruto I don't own!

**Jiraiya: How does that even make sense?**

**Me: -slaps-**

**Jiraiya: Oh baby! I love tough women!**

**Me: -facepalms-**

**Jiraiya: Bow chicka bow wow! -pelvic thrust-**

**Me: e_e;;;;**

On to the story!

"Person says"

_'Person thinks'_

**"Bijuu/kami says"**

_**'Bijuu/kami thinks'**_

"Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

Chapter 7: A Name and a Home

In the mindscape, years had passed. Yugito had learned much of what the library had to offer, but not all of it. She wasn't a wind elemental, so pulling off the Rasegen was beyond her. She loved kenjutsu and spend a ton of her time practicing swordplace. Unable to access the chakra the Nibi produced, she found she was not entirely well rounded without it. Yugito enjoyed learning weapons behind the claws she used to be able to make.

Kurama spent time enjoying living, something that he had not spent much time doing in the past. Being a slight prankster at heart, he spent his spare time learning ninja traps and crafts that could do well with blending into the crowd, and become self sufficient. He found with hands instead of paws his dexterity had risen, and he quite liked being able to create things instead of destroy.

Within the mindscape, it was hard to tell who sensed it first. Kurama felt all his fur stand on end, while Yugito had goosebumps up her arms, both feeling like something was terribly wrong. There was a humming noise deep within the house. They went to it, first Yugito, and following her, having shifted into a more human for, Kurama.

Neither of them could find themselves surprised that the source of the humming led to the stone room off the library, the normally blue pool burning red. A new rack was along one wall, and slowly different balls materialized, unable to be seen descriptively within the glow they were putting off.

Kurama sat on the bench beside the pool as he closed his eyes, trying to locate the unsettled feeling within him. A frown creased his face. **"Something is causing Naruto to drain an insane amount of healing chakra," **he started, his ears flattening against his head. **"Its almost as if the chakra can't keep up with the damage." **He opened his eyes, meeting Yugito's gaze. **"He's obviously not fighting, I would feel the mild stress of that, and the chakra he pulls to battle. It's almost as if he's not even moving. The only thing that could be is if someone was torturing him."**

Yugito flinched, remembering some of the cruelties of her childhood. A flair of energy from the pool caused them both to look into the simmering waters. An image firmed, a child laying on a wooden platform, a carpet under her. Shock flickered across both faces.

"Why," Yugito cried out. "That's the front porch." Before the image had even resolved into a clear picture both of the guardians were out of the room, rushing toward the entrance. It took them moments to get there, and they slowed and creaked the door open.

A mess of red hair was a surprise, with two fox ears that reminded Yugito of Kurama. A tail lay sprawled to the side, as the nude girl child, no more than 3 years old, curled in a fetal ball, whimpering. Kurama's eyes flickered in realization. For whatever reason, Naruto had become a young girl, and as Kurama had been trying to pull a young boy in the whole time, he was reaching for the wrong sort of chakra.

Yugito scooped up the child into her arms, wiping the tears away from Naruto's face. _'No matter the surprise,' _she thought. _'She is a suffering baby, and she needs help.' _

Kurama watched, feeling helpless as the sight of his so called jailers suffering. No matter the resentment he could have possibly felt for the girl, these tears were hard for even him to bear. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. **"You should take the child to bed and put something on her,"** he said in a hesitant manner. His eyes opened as a determined look flashed over his face. **"I'm going to take a look at those new memory stones and see what in Kami is going on."**

Yugito acknowledged this with a nod, and with long strides took Naruto into one of the bedrooms, clothing Naruto carefully in a soft flannel night dress. Meanwhile, Kurama went back to the memory pool. The glow on the stones had faded, and the pool had calmed. The fox examined the stones.

_**'There is only a little more than a year worth of memory stones,'**_he thought, reading the dates. _**'The time must be different, but what caused the child to age?' **_The kyuubi spent the rest of the "day" viewing the memories. He had discovered that the memory stones only kept life changing events, the unnecessary details being filtered out. _**'Raised by the shifty snake sannin that Minato had been wary of? Kept alone in a room?' **_He continued through the stones. _**'Wait!' **_he thought. _**'That memory is transparent! What could that mean?'**_

As he watched the memory he realized that the overimage was genjutsu, and the truth was behind it. What he saw appalled him. The end of the memory, seeing Orochimaru knock her out, was all he needed to know. He rose from the bench, his face set into a snarl. _**'That monster. I will rip him limb from limb.' **_He strode to room Yugito had put the child in.

Yugito sat at the edge of the bed, the child still unconscious, in a cold sweat. She wiped the girls brow with a wet cloth, a frown set over her face. Sensing Kurama enter the room, she turned to see rage in his eyes. "That bad, is it?" she asked quietly. Kurama forced himself to calm.

**"Worse," **he said tersely. **"Naruto has been abducted, isolated, and suffers under an illusion. She is now being methodically tortured." **They both fell silent at this, head bowed. The noise of the blanket shifting and a tired groan caused them both to turn, Kurama taking a few steps back so as not to frighten the girl.

She sat up, rubbing her face. She cringed slightly, as if in pain. "Owwies.." the little girl whined. Yugito shifted on the bedcovers and she looked up surprised. She had never seen another person besides Hebi-sama before, let alone a woman. "Oh!" she cried, scooting back on the covers. "Persons?" She was unafraid, like an animal in an uninhabited forest. Why be afraid of people?

She looked up at them with her big blue eyes. Yugito took in those sapphires and the familiar whisker marks and knew this was Naruto, no matter how it had happened. The blonde woman smiled down at the little girl. "Hello Naruto," she said softly. "My name is Yugito, and I'm going help take care of you now."

"Na-ru-to?" the child questioned. "What's a naruto?" She blinked innocently up at the two. Kurama couldn't help a smirk that crossed his face. As sad as it was the child didn't know her name, she was the most adorable kit he had ever seen.

**"Kit,"** he said, crouching down next to the bed, heedless to the uncultured way he was acting at the time. **"That is your name, your name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, as your parents named you." **The girl beamed up at the two.

"You knew my Kaa-san and Tou-san?" Naruto smiled up at them, ignoring her ouchies. The two adults met gazes and communicated silently for a moment. Yugito turned back to Naruto.

"For a short time, and they taught us a lot," she told Naruto. "And they put us in charge of watching you." They watched as Naruto grew quiet, a contemplative look crossing her face.

"Where is Kaa-san and Tou-san?" she asked slowly. "All I have is Doki-niisan and Hebi-sama. No Kaa-san and Tou-san." Yugito took Naruto's hand. "You're Kaa-san and Tou-san were very brave," the ex-Jinchuriki said. "And gave their lives to protect you and their village." Naruto's eyes grew downcast.

"Oh," she said. After a long moment then she brightened. "But they left yous right? Who is yous?" The two seemed relieved by her demeanor.

"Well you already know me as Nii Yugito," the blonde started. **"And you may call me Kurama," **the kyuubi continued. Naruto nodded wisely.

"Yugi-mama and Kura-papa," she decided. "But where is you been?" Kurama's brow creased before he settled on an answer. **"We live inside your head Kit," **he told her. **"But we just now figured out how to bring you here. You can only visit us when you are asleep or meditating."**

"Mediting?" Naruto asked. Yugito giggled lightly. "No, Naruto, meditating. Its the act of growing calm and resting while away, while thinking of nothing and trying to find the energy inside of you. We'll teach you while you are here."

**"And we'll teach you several other things as well," **Kurama added. **"It seems that time passed much differently here, so while you are getting better we will teach you all that we can. " **

Naruto frowned. "I gotta go back?" she questioned quietly. Yugito scooped the girl up in a hug. Naruto froze, having never been hugged before. But soon she relaxed into the embrace and began to hug back.

"Yes Naru-chan," she told the child sadly. "You have to return. But you won't have to be there that much." The girl nodded into the hug. "Okay Yugi-mama."

And so the days passed. Naruto would eat all sorts of delicious foods, and learn her letters and numbers. She was taught the first chakra exercise she had ever gotten. First she sensed her chakra, then she balanced a leaf on her head. It took several days before she was able to make the leaf stick, because mostly it just burnt up.

When Naruto got a grasp on her chakra, Yugito taught her how to dispel genjutsu, telling the child of the illusion, but warning her that she may be frightened by what she sees, and that if Orochimaru found out that she was free from the genjutsu she would be in danger.

Between trying new things and exploring the house, Kurama taught the child how to meditate. It was shown to be a measure of patience to teach the three year old how to sit still, let alone how to clear her mind and meditate. Kurama had never been so fed up in his life.. yet it was an important lesson. As promise for reward to learning to meditate, he told her that he would take her to a special place in the forest if she was able to learn.

With this new motivation she was able to perfect it rather quickly. And so came their vacation in the forest. Yugito had packed a picnic bento. While there was no need to eat, being able to eat reassured the deprived Naruto and the bodiless Yugito and Kurama of their life. Kurama walked ahead, Naruto in the middle, and Yugito, carrying the bento, walked in the back.

Kurama near jumped as he felt a tiny hand enter his own. Naruto was beaming up at him as she held a few of his fingers, all her little hand could fit around. Kurama, normally apathetic beyond negative emotions, found himself warmed by the action. His eyes smiled at her in a way his face could not, but she understood, and as he wrapped his hand around her little one, she leaned into his kimono.

They reached the clearing that had puzzled Kurama, and as they hit the border a shield flaired around the clearing. As the shield disappated from the top, it revealed a huge playground, with small gravels and soft mats peppering the ground. Naruto let out a squeal and ran into the playground, Kurama released from her grasp.

Yugito smiled at Kurama, before they both turned to watch Naruto play on the jungle gym. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't ideal, and Orochimaru still had way too much power over the girl, but they felt, in that moment, that it was going to be okay.

A.N. And so this chapter ends. Thank you so much for your reviews!

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they met. Remember from previous chapters, she will not be on team 7. She'll be on team Gai.

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1 and 3/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino: 2

Rock Lee: 1/3

Kaguya Kimimaro: 6 1/4

Sora: 0

Yamato: 1/4


	8. The Hard Truth

A.N. Thank you for the reviews and adds and such!

**Warning:**This chapter is going to have a very graphic scene of the experiment area that Orochimaru works in. Hopefully this will be the last scene of this magnitude.

Disclaimer:

**Naruto: Nooo! -flees-**

**Me: -chases with collar and chain- Come baaack!**

**Naruto: -kawarimi with a log just as the collar clamps on-**

**Me: Augh! -turns to public- I guess I don't own Naruto afterall.**

"Person says"

_'Person thinks'_

**"Bijuu/kami says"**

_**'Bijuu/kami thinks'**_

"Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

Ch 8: The Hard Truth

The time in her "home" with Yugi-mama and Kura-papa was the best two weeks of her life, probably. Naruto was proud of her name, proud of the new things she had learned. She was able to write her name now, and it was exciting each time she did it. Having a name was probably the most exciting gift she had ever received.

Kura-papa went through a big book of pictures of her parents with her, pointing out certain pictures and telling her about her real Kaa-san, and about how brave her Tou-san was. Yugi-mama taught Naruto numbers, and now Naruto could count to twenty! They were so proud of her for being able to count to twenty, they said.

Yugi-mama told the little fox girl that she was very smart and was probably going to be the smartest person her age! Naruto had never met people her age so she had to take Yugi-mama's word for it.

But all good things must come to an end. After a fun day with Kura-papa and Yugi-mama she was put to bed, and it came as a bit of a shock when she woke up, her forgotten ouchies all back.

"Nngg.." she moaned, sitting up. Naruto hurt all over. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she tried to make the world stop blurring. A familiar voice shocked her.

"Kit," Dokujaki started in a relieved voice. "You are awake! You've been asleep for over two days." Naruto jumped, looking around. She was indeed back in her nursery, and the worried snaked crawled onto her lap, looking up at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, trying to hide the anxiousness from his voice. Naruto nodded, but winced from the action.

"I'm okay, Doki-niisan," she started. "Just has some ouchies." Dokujaki nodded, acknowledging it.

"You should rest some more," the snake told her firmly. "You must be very tired." Naruto shook her head.

"Noo, I'm not sleepy 'nymore!" she stood up carefully, Dokujaki sliding off her lap. Naruto looked at the clasp holding the crib door closed. Compared to the puzzles Kura-papa had her do, this was fairly simple. She opened the crib, slipping down carefully. Dokujaki watched impassively, believing that seeing it open so many times was all it took for his Kit to be able to open it.

Naruto winced as her feet jolted her tender body. _'But the ouchies are going baibai fast,'_ She thought to herself. As she looked around the room, she realized it had changed. No longer was there toddler toys. Instead there was a shelf of childrens books, a small desk with writing materials, and some puzzles very similar to the ones she had in her head-home.

She found it hard to be interested in this simplistic room, after having such a huge place to explore before. But she dutifully took her crayons and paper out, and started practicing her hiragana vowels, unaware that she should hide it. Dokujaki was shocked. _'Where and how did she learn these characters?' _ he wondered to himself.

But his loyalty was slowly shifting more towards his kit. He would hide this growth from Orochimaru, for her sake. A few hours later has her curled up on a cushion with a book. Dokujaki read to her slowly, so that she could understand the words and learn to read herself.

"…And so the young kunoichi protecting the daimyo's son, having saved him from the daimyo's devious plots, ran away to a far away village, where they lived happily ever after."

A week past like this, learning in her mindscape, with each day being a week, and learning some physical exercises Yugi-mama taught her for confined areas, and practicing in her room while Orochimaru wasn't around.

She had progressed to the point that she could write both hiragana and katakana, and had started on first and second grade kanji.

When Orochimaru finally discovered she had been writing, he assumed that Dokujaki reading to her had improved her ability to read and write. He was far more concerned with his ongoing Senju kekkai genkai project. Many of the patients he had worked with had gotten incredibly sick. One boy, about three years old, was a little more resilient, but it was almost a unnoticable difference.

It was only when he decided to give his patients time to rest that he took the small girl back out into her cage, the "outside" illusion on. Naruto tried very hard not to show her uncomfortableness. Yugi-mama and Kura-papa had told her that this was not real, but she was a little frightened to what it could be.

But she was determined. Kura-papa had told her not to dispel it unless Hebi-sama was gone. And in what was a mixed blessing, after cursing over his "garden" and being out of supplies he left for the storage part of his base. Naruto couldn't believe her luck. That on the first day he would leave her unattended...

She found it was really hard to to play on the play house and pretend to not know anything with Hebi-sama right there. It was difficult to pretend to be innocent when she knew stuff she wasn't supposed to know.

After waiting several minutes to make sure he wouldn't be back any time soon. _'Kura-papa are you there?' _she asked nervously. Waiting for an answer made her more anxious, even though it was only moments before she gained a response.

_**'Yes Kit,' **_the kyuubi responded, even after all this time bemused to be called "papa" by his jailed. _**'Is it time to dispel the illusion?' **_He very well knew it was, but wanted to make sure the girl was completely prepared.

_'Yes Papa,' _Naruto thought to him. _'I'm ready.' _A surge of chakra flooded Naruto, her whisker marks growing as her eyes reddened momentarily. She was relieved as she would never would have been able to hide this from Orochimaru, and Dokujaki, who the latter had gone hunting.

The "outside" flicked once, before disappearing with a popping noise. The first thing register was the horrible rotting and chemical smells that filled the room. There was a heavy copper smell and as she looked around horrified, the splashes of blood everywhere were confirmed to be the sources of that.

Her eyes filled with tears. Some children as young as only a few months old were cut open and pinned, their own organs sitting around them. Their mouths were locked open in shrieks, the mask of death having never left their face, eyes open. There were vials of chemicals and jars with pieces of preserved body parts, anything from sharigan eyes to pieces of organs from sources unknown.

One such piece was a hand that seemed to have a mouth on it, a tongue dangling out. The container had the label "Bakuton". She pulled her eyes away from the scene with a sob. Instead, she found her eyes locking with a haunted face of a young boy in a cage full of other children.

Yamato was unsure what had happened. The flair of red caught his eyes first, and as it died off the look of horror crossing over the girl's face and the subsequental tears had realization dawning in his eyes. _'She shook it off,' _he thought, amazed. _'One of this monsters powerful techniques, and she threw it off.' _

But the pain stretched across her face seemed to reach out to him. The girl had never known this sort of pain. He had regretfully had to watch as the girl, knocked out, had been dissected and put back together before, unable to do anything. But maybe he could help this time.

"Are you okay?" he croaked with a hoarse voice. Her eyes widened in confusion.

"What did you say?" the girl questioned. He coughed and tried again. "Are you okay over there?" he asked, his voice a little cleared. Her eyes drifted to the scenes around her.

"Its scary," she admitted. "I knew it was gonna be scary but I looked anyhow." A wry smile, on a face unused to smiling, crossed his face. It hurt a little, but in a way felt good at the same time. "It is, but you are brave to look," he told her.

She locked eyes with him again, glad for the distraction. "Thank you," she said softly. "What's your name?" Naruto asked him shyly.

He shook his head. "I don't have a name," he said sadly. "Master calls me Mokuton no Juunigou. But that's not really a name." (Number Twelve of Wood Release)

"Oh.." she said quietly. "Hebi-sama never gave me a name," she continued, "But I found out my name is Naruto." Yamato found himself giggling raspingly. The deadened eyes of the children around him shifted away at the noise.

"Fish cake?" he inquired. Naruto giggled as well, the feeling almost hysterical as the shock started seeping into her. "Yea, I know," she responded. "But its mine." At Yamato's saddened look she felt bad. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Maybe we can find your name too?"

And at this, two friends had been made. When Orochimaru returned, he knew something had changed. He examined his experiments and found nothing wrong. But a sniffle from the cage had him examining the girl, who sent one of his other test subjects a glance of panic before trying to disguise the look. His eyes widened.

"You.." he growled at her. "You broke my genjutsu! The experiment is tainted!" Naruto flinched in terror.

"Leave her alone!" one of the test subjects cried out, standing, despite his shaking body protesting. He turned to the rebellious boy.

"Juunigou!" Orochimaru snapped. "Learn your place!" He started toward the other cage, but a tug on the bottom of his kimono had him stopping. He turned, seeing the tearful girl holding the kimono through the bars.

"Please," she begged. "Leave my friend alone." The snake sannin raised an eyebrown. _'There is defiance everywhere today,' _he thought musingly, shaken out of his rage. _'But maybe I can use this. If I put them together, they will keep each other calm, and the threat of seperating them would keep them in line.' _

And at the end of this, the crib was replaced and a large futon was put into the room, that the two would share. Orochimaru felt relieved at no longer needing to hide his cruel nature from the girl. The monster that he was would no longer need to be stifled around the girl.

A.N And so this chapter ends. I know it was sort of short for what happened, but I really didn't want to get into the gore too much..

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they met. Remember from previous chapters, she will not be on team 7. She'll be on team Gai.

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1 and 3/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino: 2

Rock Lee: 1/3

Kaguya Kimimaro: 5 3/4

Sora: 0

Yamato: 1 and 3/4


	9. Playmates

A.N. Thanks for your loyal reviews! It means a lot to me! Everyone seems to really like Yamato :D

Disclaimer:

**Me: I OWN NARUTO -cackles-**

**Hinata: H-how awful… T_T**

**Me: :C Fine, I don't own Naruto.**

**Hinata: c:  
**

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Bijuu/kami think"**_

Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

Ch 9: Playmates

Life was harder now for Naruto. Orochimaru gave her shots that made her tummy hurt and head spin, ran tests that made her sore for days, and even once cut off her tail! It was with great gratefulness when the tail grew back. Orochimaru never told her, but later, the tail burnt up with a chakra fire, unable to be used for testing.

But Naruto was happier than when she was alone. She had her friend now. Neither of them knew which one was the youngest, although they both stubbornly insisted they were older. So Yamato would call her imouto and Naruto called him otouto. They were happy with this though, the personal endearment having them grow closer.

During the night Naruto would go into her mindscape, where she would learn new things. During the day, she'd teach it to her otouto. The first week was both nerve wracking and joyful at the same time. She enjoyed spending time with her otouto but sometimes Orochimaru would take him away and he'd come back sick.

"Otouto," Naruto said, petting his sweat dampened hair as he lay on the futon. "Is your owwies better yet?" He shook his head. "Not yet imouto," he responded tiredly. "Will you read to me for awhile?" Naruto pulled out the book of shinobi fairy tails. "This is the story of the samurai and shinobi twins," she started. "Once upon a time there were two brothers.."

Yamato smiled and closed his eyes. Despite the pain that often came to him, he was happy. For he had known pain his whole life, but never known joy until his bright star of an imouto came into his life.

Hiding her knowledge from Orochimaru became more difficult too. But when Yugi-mama taught her a storage seal that she drew on the bottom of her desk, she was able to hide her seals and writing from Orochimaru. She was getting good with simple seals, and as her ability to read grew, the theory behind seals became simpler and simpler in her head. Most of the seals had to be blood activated, or drawn with blood or ink. But she found if she focused her chakra just right she could make her crayons work.

With lack of leaves to practice chakra control, Yamato and Naruto both used scraps of paper. It was a challenge to have them stick to their foreheads without help.

"No imouto!" Yamato told her. "You can't lick it first to make it stick, that's cheating!"

Dokujaki had long since given up on discovering why they were learning so fast. He knew that the kyuubi was trapped inside of the kit, but he didn't think the angry bijuu would deem it necessary to teach her little things like this.

It was one night in her mindscape that she was learning seals, when she turned to a softly smiling Yugito to ask for advice.

"Mama..?" she questioned. "I wanna bring otouto here too." She wasn't sure how it was going to work.

Yugito tilted her head contemplatingly, before calling Kurama in, and presenting the question to him.

"Is it possible?" the blonde asked him.

**"If it is possible," **he started. **"It would have to be through summoning seals." **This became Naruto's new project. She had already advanced far past Yugito with her abilities. The only thing Yugito could place it with was the Uzumaki blood, that was known for their sealing. His father was also a reported genius.

It took months to develop the seal, hiding it from her otouto so to not disappoint him if it failed. Eventually it took learning the invisible sealing method, the beast summoning seals, and a reverse Hiraishin seal to come up with the final result.

The invisible sealing method had her using her chakra and hands to "paint" a seal on Yamato's back with simply chakra, it fading and becoming invisble on his skin. The seal included a modified hiraishin that would summon an object to herself. But, this method was risky, shifting items that were not inanimate, into a mindscape. She altered this to summon only his mind. The seal could only work when they were both asleep and touching..

Inside the mindscape she painted a large seal on the porch, that had the hiraishin "root", and a altered beast summoning matrix that drew both her own chakra on the invisible seal, her friends chakra, and leaned heavily on the emotional bond between them.

It was with great trepidation that she drew the seal on the back of the curious Yamato's back. With a flair of chakra she completed it.

"Ow!" he said. "That stung. What is this for again?"

Naruto could only shake her head. "You'll see," she told him. "If it works.." Yamato was doubly curious now. That night they went to bed, and like normal Yamato and Naruto had their arms wrapped around each other.

"Waking" up in her mindscape, Naruto examined the seal on the front porch one more time.

"Are you sure you want to try this?" Yugito asked. "If it fails, you both could be in danger."

Naruto nodded firmly. "Even if something bad might happen, having my otouko here would make him much happier than forcing him to live _there._" The last word was said with a fair amount of disgust. Since being brought out of her illusion of happiness and trust, this mindscape was one of the few things holding her together. If she could share this with her otouko it would be worth the world to both of them.

Crouching, she lay her hand on the array. She started to flood the seal with chakra, the drain from it sucking at her. "Nngg.." she groaned. This was much harder than it had originally been assumed.

It was with a flash of red chakra flames and yellow lightning that sent Naruto tumbling, that Yamato appeared, tangled up with her. _'Oh I know I should have did this from the side of the seal,' _she thought belatedly.

Yamato, for his part, was in shock. He had never been outside a confined space, at at first he was frightened by the openness. Seeing the other two people he was then frightened by that! But Naruto's arms around him were reassuring and the energy she put off relaxed him. _'She's smiling,'_ he thought to himself. He had never seen a smile that bright on her face before.

It was then he realized what this was. Of course she had told him about the mindscape before, but despite seeing the knowledge Naruto would wake up with each day, he had doubted its existance. Embarassed and blushing, the two pulled away from each other. "Oops," Naruto said, before perking up. "Surprise!" she cried out, flinging her arms in the air.

"I brought you 'home' with me!" she claimed. Yamato felt a grin slipping over his face. "Home.." he mused. _'That is a nice word.' _

It didn't take long for Yamato to warm up to the warm affection of Yugito, whom had heard much about him from Naruto, and the passive but kind attention of Kurama, whom he was surprised to learn wasn't human at all. It took several shape shifting on the kyuubi's fault to convince the stubborn boy to believing that.

Together they flourished. Yamato was a quick study, having been deprived of attention and knowledge his whole life, and being presented with it in mass, caused him to devour ever inch of what was available. He couldn't do seals to save his life, but he was meticulous in a way Naruto wasn't with writing and studying. He learned the various ways to use jutsu, and to manipulate it.

Out of pure desperation he picked up the basics of self medical jutsu. It was that ability that kept him still functioning through the many experiments inflicted on him. He wasn't great at it, but being able to dull the pain and damage on himself in a way only Naruto was able to do naturally, had him keeping up with her progression.

Kurama found the boy fascinating, and they spent hours together "gardening". Yamato was a natural green thumb, and had a way of making things thrive anywhere. The herbalism that Kurama taught him was set aside as a future hope. If he could ever escape. Kurama also taught the boy stealth, how to slip through the trees without making a noise, how to track the various creatures that dotted the woods.

Yugito spent time with the boy teaching him the finer arts of wielding a small blade in combat. Naruto and Yamato both did better together, sparring, than they ever did on their own. Admittedly, they could only teach themselves muscle memory and coordination and the finer aspects, the real muscle building was something they could not tackle without doing the sparring in reality.

Within the week they spent together on that first night, Yugito and Kurama had unofficially adopted him. They made it more sentimental by giving him a name. Y-ama-to, a mix of their two names. This name meant a lot to him, and while far in the future he would forget this name over time, only to be given it again, it was a precious gem that cemented his life with Naruto.

A.N. I really like writing Yamato and Naruto together. xD They are so cute.

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they met. Remember from previous chapters, she will not be on team 7. She'll be on team Gai.

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1 and 3/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino: 2

Rock Lee: 1/3

Kaguya Kimimaro: 4 3/4

Sora: 0

Yamato: 8 1/2


	10. Escape!

Disclaimer:

**Me: Narutooo... -stalks-**

**Naruto: -holds up disguise fence paper -**

**Me: Where is that Naruto anyhow? I'm never gonna own him at this rate!**

**Naruto: -sweats nervously-**

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Biju/kami think"**_

A.N. Thanks for all your reviews. So far Yamato is winning! He is a cutie isn't he? I've posted tonight because tomorrow I will be gone all day. Please do not expect two chapters a day from me. I may slow down updates actually, I find myself overloaded. At least twice a week though!

Please take a look at my deviant art page ~Ask-Shino-Aburame for much hilarity!

Ch 10: Escape

It had been a painful night for both Yamato and Naruto. A cruel series of tests were inflicted on both of them. Orochimaru had a thrill for the Senju bloodline experiment after a possible success on Danzo. If only he could get his young test subjects to survive the final transfusion..

Yamato and Naruto had both been injected with the DNA, and while Naruto burnt it out of her system with only a few hours of cold sweat, a nearly unresponsive Yamato groaned as he curled up painfully on their futon.

_'What can I do ..?' _Naruto mentally pleaded. The response she got was unexpected.

**'Escape little kit, and try to save your friend.'**

Escaping was a thought that both of them had had, but they were only four years old! Smart four year olds, but, but four year olds nonetheless. And Hebi-sama was like a zillion years older and a zillion times stronger!

Panic filled her mind. But Kurama could easily sense her rising fear and addressed it.

**'If you cannot outpower him, you'll have to outsmart him,'** he told her simply.

_'But what do I know that he doesn't..?'_ her mind drifted to the seals she had been practicing with her crayons.. the companion seal, often used for transporting ninja animals and livestock was one that she had been curious about. It was very similar to a storage seal, but you could put the animals in status for travel or if they were badly injured, freeze their time till they got to a medic.

If she just altered it a little... it could hold Yamato for several days before releasing him. And now, during the day while Orochimaru was absent was the perfect time to do it. She prepared the the seal quickly, while Dokujaki was off hunting for the week. A construction paper scroll with a blood seal over it was placed next to Yamato.

It was difficult lifting her friend, and as he whimpered in insensible pain, she apologized to him in her head. _'Forgive me Otouto.. but I'll save you, I promise.' _

Orochimaru didn't hide the fact that Yamato was dying, taking cruel pleasure in Naruto's shouts of denial earlier. If it was just her, she would have been too frightened to even try to escape... but her otouto NEEDED her and for Kami's sake she'd never let him down!

Naruto lay Yamato down carefully onto the small construction paper. For this it didn't need to be big... She looked around anxiously, confirming that the room was still empty. With a surge of chakra Yamato disappeared. She roll the scroll up and tied it to her leg with a ribbon.

Putting on her most durable clothes, a pair of red overalls, and orange shirt , and her sneakers, she examined herself with a frown. _'Too visible.'_ She only had mostly orange stuff, one of the few kind things Orochimaru had done for her.

Eying the room her glance fell upon the futon. The thin black comforter! She folded the comforter in half, tying it around her neck like a cape. Naruto tucked her hair into her impromptu cape, wincing as it pulled at the delicate strands.

She was ready! She filled her pockets with markers. They weren't perfect, but for a quick simple seals they would be perfect. Reluctantly she put her sketchpad down. It was too big.. she would have to apply it to other surfaces and hope it doesn't ruin her markers.

And now for the escape..!

She drew three things in rapid succession. An alert seal on the door frame and vent to report if Orochimaru/Doki-niisan had returned. As much as she loved Dokujaki, she knew he was loyal to Hebi-sama first. (or so she thought)

The little redhead finished with a less forceful variant of the explosive tag between the doors bolt and its knob. She infused it with chakra amd stepped back quickly, covering the fuzzy ears laying flat against her head. Turned away, she watched in her peripheral vision as a small flash followed by billowing smoke was released. The bitter smell of sulfur and burning plastic met her nose.

Releasing her ears and covering her nose, she examined the door. A gaping wound of a hole lay where the locking mechanisms had sat. Fearfully she pressed the door, which opened easily, and she crept out into the dimly lit stone hallway.

The haphazard office was a bit of a curious sight, holding none of the goriness of the lab. A glance at the billboard on the wall showed a new project. For a moment she examined the seal displayed. Her eyes widened in shock. This seal was absolutely vile! She could see why it was called a curse seal. It was an abhorrent use of fuinjutsu.

But she knew she couldn't linger. Slipping out of the office she tried not to glance at the various "patients" strapped to the tables. But she couldn't avoid it completely. They were all teenagers, and mouths open in silent screams as they writhed on the tables against the straps.

She knew it was impossible save them and still save Yamato, as tempting and heartbreaking as it was. There just was not enough time.

It was obvious that Orochimaru never expected anyone to be strong enough or that small, to try to escape. The small air vent was completely unprotected. With a frustrating amount of chakra Naruto climbed up the wall, to a rusty air vent. She shakily pried the cover off, cringing as it crashed noisily to the ground.

As the echoing sound died down, Naruto warily climbed into the vent. It had just barely enough room for her, but the comforter tore as it caught on a rough edge. She left a scrap of fabric behind, unnoticed, as she clamored through the vent.

It edged upwards, and Naruto used chakra on her hands and knees to climb shakily slowly up the vent. She was getting tired now...

**'You are too young to take much, kit,' **Kurama told Naruto. **'But I can feed you a little chakra.' **

A slight burning sensation came with the renewal of energy, and as Naruto reached the top of the vent, finding it unmovable, she used a chakra infused punch to drive the lid off.

Naruto climbed out of the vent, amazed by the massive trees around her. She was dusty, covered in scratches, and her fist was quickly starting to bruise, but she was OUT!

The feeling of victory passed quickly as a animals roar echoed out in the distance. She didn't know where she was, but she knew it was dangerous. Naruto made tracks quickly as she fled away from the vent. She didn't know where she was going, or how she'd get there, but she had to get AWAY.

**'Remember what Yugito told you,' **Kurama started.** 'In the future Orochimaru will be a S-rank missing nin.. of Konoha. Trees like this are only found in Hi no Kuni, so Konohagakura may well be close.' **

The little girl only nodded in acknowledgement. Her mind and body were fully committed to escaping. Part of her registered the details as she passed them. Massive claw marks on trees taller than she could the top of, paw prints bigger than her head. She didn't even pause as she past a snake skin she felt was at least a mile long.

She dodged a slime trail from Kami knows what as she ran through the rough undergrowth, the stinging of minor scrapes of thorns glancing across her exposed arms, the cloak pushed back by the wind created by her flight.

Only vaguely aware of of the noise she was making she fled away from the horrors she left behind. But she was completely unaware of the hungry beast that followed her..

Naruto felt the tingling of Dokujaki setting off the alert seal. Panic flooded her and she was near blind in fear. Her sight missed the root below her, but her foot didn't. As she descended, tripped, a maw snapped where her neck had been.

She hit the ground and turned, facing a drooling, hungry, and viciously angry white tiger, bigger than anything she had ever seen. Naruto shrunk back in fear as the beast crouched to pounce.

A.N. Dun dun dunnn...!

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they met. Remember from previous chapters, she will not be on team 7. She'll be on team Gai.

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1 and 3/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino: 2

Rock Lee: 1/3

Kaguya Kimimaro: 4 3/4

Sora: 0

Yamato: 8 1/2


	11. Recapture!

Disclaimer: Naruto oh Naruto ; I do not own you this I know.

A.N. Next part! Thanks for your reviews! Enjoy!

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Bijuu/kami think"**_

Ch 11: Recapture

Naruto was frozen in terror as a jaw big enough to eat half of her came at her. In less than a second her regrets and life passed before her eyes, her eyes pinpointed on the sharp canines longer than her arm descended.

She flinched, her eyes shutting. Unwilling to watch the beast that was going to be her doom she also missed the two feet that buried its way into the tigers skull, knocking it senseless. She also missed the woman, no girl, that saved her, summoning a snake bigger than the tiger itself and it being driven off.

Naruto, frozen, began to thaw at a girls voice. "Hey kid, ya alright? What the hell is a kid doing in The Forest of Death? " Surprised, her eyes flashed open to an interesting sight.

A developing young lady was crouched in front of her, a rough ponytail holding her spiking hair up. She wore a lot of fishnet, and very little else. "Kid? " the girl questioned, her brow furrowing.

The terror shifted from fear of the tiger to fear of the place she needed to escape.

"Konoha!" Naruto cried. "I have to get to Konoha! " She stood shakily, leaves falling off her worn form. "Please!" The girl raised a brow at her.

"Sheesh fine, don't get your panties in a bunch," she sniped. The larger girl turned around, back to Naruto, reaching her two hands behind her. After a long pause the girl growled. "Well what are you waiting for?" she snapped. "An invitation? Get on already!"

Naruto shook herself out of her stupor. "Oh," the little girl said, finally realizing what the older girl was asking of her. She climbed on the girl awkwardly, and in a flash they were in the trees, going from limb to limb in what seems like unreasonable amounts of distances.

"You're lucky I found ya," she started. "You were bout to get eaten! What's your name anyhow, kid? And why are ya out here: Its dangerous! " Naruto closed her eyes, sore from the brisk travel.

"My name is Naruto," she started, almost too quiet to hear. "And I was trying to escape." The older girls eyes widened. She knew better than to question Naruto though, the terror palpable in her voice.

"Well I'm the sexy and beautiful Anko-sama, and I'm pleased ta meet ya," the now Anko said. "And I'll get ya to Konoha!" The darkening sky came with the chilling feeling of the alert seal outside her door opened. Orochimaru had found her missing.

"Hurry.." she whimpered in a shaken voice. "He's gonna get us.." Anko didn't know who "he" was, but if the shaking girl was that scared it had to be someone bad. She picked up the pace.

It hadn't even been ten minutes when Anko sensed the chakra of her teacher. She slowed, coming to a stop on a wide thick branch. Anko was relieved. She was never good with children, but sensei was a sannin, and in with the hokage. Surely he would be more suitable.

A chilling laughter greeted them. "Kekeke.."

"No!" Naruto cried horrified. Anko looked over her shoulder at the girls terror stricken face, questioningly. The girl started to struggle, and Anko held tighter, not wanting Naruto to fall.

"Orochimaru-sensei," Anko said smilingly at her teacher, who slipped out of the foliage and was steadily approaching. "I'm gla-" A piercing cry interrupted her as Naruto struggled more.

"NO!" she shrieked in fear, kicking at Anko. "I WON'T GO BACK! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" Anko's eyes widened in shock.

"Sensei.." she started hesitantly. "What's going on?" She turned, Naruto protectively placed behind her back. Orochimaru just let a mad grin slip across its face, as he sent snake summons out to separate and wrap around both of them.

Anko was petrified in shock, and Naruto wept silently.

"Oh Anko-chan," he started. "Regretfully you've seen too much. I'm truly sorry Anko-chan, but I cannot let you leave." Anko lost her breath as the words were processed and absorbed.

_'Sensei...'_ she thought numbly, as the Orochimaru placed them both on a large snake and lead them back to his lab. The betrayal made her want to keen.

Naruto, having wept till she stopped breathing, and passed out, was eerily still. Anko closed her eyes in regret and fear, knowing nothing good was going to happen.

Naruto was placed inside an empty cell, Anko noticed through her shock. She expected to be placed in a cell too, and with wide eyes she looked around the blood reeking lab, the prone forms of dying teenagers strapped to many tables. _'The missing kids..'_ she thought slowly. _'This is where they were taken..'_

Unnoticed, Orochimaru slipped up to her. He stroke her cheek. "Maybe you'll be a success," he said in an eerily calm voice. Anko, normally fearless, trembled as the sannin opened his mouth surreally wide, viper fangs exposed. With a hiss he plunged them into her neck.

Rapidly a burning sensation originating at her neck filled her, and she shrieked in pain. Then things became mercifully dark as she lost consciousness.

A.N. Short chapter, sorry. Gonna try to write the next chapter tomorrow :D

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they met. Remember from previous chapters, she will not be on team 7. She'll be on team Gai.

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1 and 3/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino: 2

Rock Lee: 1/3

Kaguya Kimimaro: 4 3/4

Sora: 0

Yamato: 8 1/2


	12. Discovery!

Disclaimer:

**Me: I dun wanna do it! You do it!**

**Kiba: NO! It's your job! I don't take orders from you! -snarl-**

**Me: Come on... pleaaase?**

**Kiba: Heck no! People might get ideas!**

**Me: Awwwww..**

**Akamaru: -pants a sigh- Whhhiinne..barkbark! (Stupid humans..arguing over nothing! She doesn't own Naruto, so why doesn't she just admit it?)**

A.N. Sorry for leaving you with two cliffhangers in a row..and I apologize for those of you who were really wishing she'd escape! The excitement and maybe cliffhangers will probably continue for a few active chapters. Please check out my deviantart account ~Ask-Shino-Aburame for some of my Naruto themed comedy. Ask me questions there! I'm dying from lack of them!

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Bijuu/kami think"**_

Ch 12 : Discovered!

Sarutobi Hiruzen had never felt the weight of his age pressing on him more than he felt it now. An ANBU report lay on the desk in front of him. The meeting was exceedingly late, but for information this delicate he had to be here. Wearily, he lifted his eyes to the masked ANBU leader in front of him.

"..And this news your subordinate brought you, you are sure of it? " the god of shinobi asked in a constricted voice. The ANBU gave no recognition to the pained voice of the sandaime.

"Yes," the masked man replied. "All reports coming in say that Orochimaru lures these teenagers, captures them, for them to be taken to his lair. We have found the main entrance, and our best daton user is telling us that it goes extensively underground, but we cannot seem to locate any of the side entrances."

The hokage bowed his head, his hat casting his face in a shadow. _'So it comes to this, my student. What atrocities are you inflicting on these children.' _He firmed his resolution, raising his head to meet the ANBUs eyes.

"I want first contact," Sarutobi told him. "I'm going to try to talk him down, but I want a squad immediately ready to take him down if this does not work."

The ANBU nodded. "I'll have the men assembled in ten minutes." With an acknowledgement from the hokage he shunshin out. Hiruzen rose.

_'Ten minutes is too long.. surely I can go ahead,' _he told himself. _'There is nothing Orochimaru could throw at me that I cannot handle.'_

Slipping off his adorned robe and cumbersome hat, he lay them carefully onto his seat. His armor underneath was antique but solid, strong and durable. Hiruzen hoped he wouldn't have to use the weapons on the pouch strapped to his leg. He fervently hoped Orochimaru would be reasonable.

Taking one last glance at the papers in front of him, Sarutobi memorized the entrance. It was deceptively close, and the traps around it were easily avoided by a ninja of his caliber. How Orochimaru ever expected to be undetected was beyond him.

_'Pride comes before a fall,'_he thought bitterly. _'But in this case his arrogance was to our benefit.' _With one last visual sweep around his abandoned office he tucked the papers into his armor and prepared to leave. _'I want to get this over with and get home to Konohamaru.' _

Forgoing the door, he took a leap out the window towards his destination. It only took minutes to get there, even proceeding stealthily. _'Within blocks from the Hokage tower. Oh, my foolish student.'_

Apprehensively he led himself into the lair.

Meanwhile Orochimaru knew just when his lair had been violated and who had done it. In truth, it hadn't been entirely arrogance. He knew very well he would be discovered eventually, and out of pure spite had set traps to subtly lead his old sensei into a confrontation.

Truly he had not expected it to be so soon... but a massive storage seal which held copies of all his documents, samples of tissue and elixir, extra tools, basically anything he needed to set up his lab anywhere else rest in his office under a concealed ledge. The scroll was massive, the width of his head and the length of his legs, with hundreds of storage seals placed on it.

He felt elation at the chance to destroy his teachers illusions of peace, but also annoyance at having been caught at such an inopportune time. His prime specimen had tried to escape, another was missing, his student was reacting positively to the curse seal... all these experiments would be lost when he fled.

With one last glance at the weeping girlchild in her cage watching the writhing and screaming Anko, he strode out into one of his many concealed tunnels.

The tunnel led to where the confrontation would be held. Mutilated and rotting bodies hung from panels on the wall, small children drifted in test tubes. This was his work, his art, at its finest. The slithering man concealed himself in a balcony. The stage was set.

It was a surprisingly short time for his teacher to arrive. Orochimaru knew the previous rooms and tunnels had been fairly tame, and he watched as the loathed old fool paled in horror, sucking in a deep breath.

Orochimaru slithered out of the dark. "You see what you have created, old man?" he called out to his traumatized victim.

Sarutobi's eyes snapped up to the mirthfully grinning man. _'Not a man, a monster,' _he corrected himself painfully. "What have you **done..**" he moaned.

"It would never had happened had you simply given me what I deserved!" Orochimaru snapped, growing angry. "The position of Hokage should have gone to me, not that blonde imbecile!"

Sarutobi's eyes darkened. "Minato had traits that you always lacked! Compassion for others, loyalty to the village, and the Will of Fire!" he snapped back.

"And that only got him killed, the fool," Orochimaru snarled, before calming with a smile. "Nevertheless I will get what I deserve, one way or another." It was that parting remark the caused Sarutobi to freeze as his student fled. That hesitation allowed Orochimaru to escape further into his lair, setting the chakra amplified traps behind him.

It would take hours to traverse that same hall, and by then it would be too late.

A.N. Another cliffy! Sorta. Following parts of canon in these next few chapters. Wrote this chapter the night previous because I had all these ideas that I can't get to till later on in the story T_T **Quick Question! _(payattention!)_ **Should I make Yugito and Kurama a pairing?

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they met. Remember from previous chapters, she will not be on team 7. She'll be on team Gai, replacing TenTen

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 1 and 3/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino: 2

Rock Lee: 1/3

Kaguya Kimimaro: 4 3/4

Sora: 0

Yamato: 8 and 1/2


	13. Interlude: Aftermath

Disclaimer:

**Killer Bee: Ya'll should be honoured ta have a disclaimer from Bee-sama, better 'preciate or I'll tell ya Mama! Naruto yo, where ya go? You sure are comin' awful slow! Mr. Nine ya ain't so fine, but this dang author don't make a dime! **

"People say"

_'People think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**"Bijuu/kami think"**_

Jutsu:_"Jutsu"_

A.N. Enough of those rapping skills. This chapter will be fairly short so I may post two today to make up for it.

Ch 13: Interlude: Aftermath

The ANBU investigation swept through the lab, dismantling the traps as they tried to impassively catalog the remains of the experiments and research. Much of the research had been destroyed by Katon powered trap seals, triggered by Orochimaru's last ditch effort to demolish anything that could be used against him.

The few research documents that had remained were horrifying and even the most hardened of ANBU knew they wouldn't be sleeping well tonight. The documents didn't lead to anything they could use, which had been truly unfortunate, especially in the case of one Mitarashi Anko.

The girl had been traumatized and severely ill when they removed her to the hospital, blathering about little fox girls being lost. She seemed pained when she was told that no little girls had been found (at least alive), in his den.

"Sensei wanted that little girl for something..." she muttered, barely audible, as she drifted off to sleep.

Both Sarutobi and his ANBU, when breaking into the nearly invisible office, had been stunned when a back room led into a Nursery. There were signs of two children here..They left the room basically untouched until a better sensor could come and evaluate it.

It was with some curiosity that beneath a toddlers play house in a cage, a construction paper scroll had been found. It seemed to be in blood, a type of storage scroll, but written sloppily on the long ribbon tying it was a note.

_"Please take care of my otouto." _

When sure there was no traps on the scroll, the strange contraption was taken to the Hokage along with the ribbon. It was with his student Jiraiya that he examined the scroll. Jiraiya was well known as a fuinjutsu master but even he had trouble deciphering what he was looking at.

"It almost looks like a companion seal," he started slowly. "Such as the Inuzuka use for emergencies. But its not a well known seal, and this doesn't entirely match up." Jiraiy trailed his finger over the different markings. "So this does..and this..hmm...Ingenious!" a metaphoric lightbulb appeared over his head. "There is a person in here! "

The Hokage flashed a look of anxiety at Jiraiya before drawing a weapon. "A person? How do we know its not a threat?" Jiraiya stood as well. It was then the seal began to fail, and a bright glow immited from it. Both the men stood on guard, as the ANBU guard dropped from their hidden positions.

But they were all taken aback when the glow faded, revealing a very sick four year old boy curled up in a fetal ball on the Sandaime's desk. Sarutobi's eyes flashed in justified anger for all Orochimaru had done.

He turned to one of the ANBU, a new one named Inu. "Get a medic nin here immediately! " Inu nodded before shunshining out. Something was bothering Inu though.. _'Why does that blood seal smell so much like Sensei and Kushina-san, with a slight vulpine edge? '_ He resolved to speak to the Hokage later.

The young boy would be treated by both medic nin and Inoichi later on. His session would reveal to Inu, also known as Kakashi, and Jiraiya, of the existence of Naruto. Both of them would search the base diligently for any sign of Naruto, only to find the trail left the base with Orochimaru and disappeared.

The nameless boy after rigorous therapy would feel distant from his trauma, eventually forgetting the name Yamato in an attempt to hide the painful past from himself. He would forget Yugito and Kurama, and Naruto, until all that was left in his memory was the smiling and nameless face of a whisker marked girl with bright blue eyes.

Quickly graduating the academy, the boy, going as Nanashi (nameless), would be promoted to chunin by six, and during a tremulous mission would use Mokuton for the first time. To hide his skill from the rest of the world the Hokage would slip him into the ANBU ranks. Named Tenzō, he would serve under Kakashi for many years.

Only time will tell when imouto amd otouto will be reunited.

Jiraiya would continue his search for Naruto, looking for signs of Orochimaru, praying the snake bastard didn't hurt her. Kakashi would do his best to take care of the last link to the family he had, no matter how indirect it was.

A.N. Bit of a split from the main storyline in an attempt to explain what happened. Hope you liked it!

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they met. Remember from previous chapters, she will not be on team 7. She'll be on team Gai, replacing TenTen

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial vote. No more than 4 votes please.

Gaara: 2 and 1/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino: 2 and 1/2

Rock Lee: 1/3

Kaguya Kimimaro: 4 3/4

Sora: 0

Yamato: 8 and 1/2


	14. Flight!

Disclaimer: I'm tired of posting interesting disclaimers so..I don't own Naruto!

A.N. The second chapter for today. Hope you appreciate it!

"Say"

_'Think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**'Bijuu/kami think'**_

"Jutsu:_"jutsu""_

Ch 14: Flight!

The little fox eared girl had known something was the matter, when the manically grinning Orochimaru had left the room in much haste, his experiment ruined by his desertion. The soon following alarms put understanding on the situation.

_'People are breaking into the lab!' _Naruto thought, with sudden enlightenment. She removed the scroll holding Yamato from her leg. _'Whoever they, they have to be better than Hebi-teme,' _she decided. With shaking hands she wrote a note on the ribbon holding the construction paper seal. _'Please Kami, let at least one of us go.._

**'Do not give up hope kit,'**Kurama told her. **'As your strength grows escaping will be simple.**

Naruto shook her head mournfully, her ears pressed flat against her skull in anguish, as she grabbed her tail like a stuffed animal in comfort. _'Someday seems so far away..'_ She resisted the urge to keen like a little baby and with a fisted hand rubbed at her eyes before standing.

_'Maybe these people breaking in will come get me!'_ she thought with a sudden hope. At that notion, waiting for any sign of change got that much harder. Her eyes drifted to the neesan that saved her life and almost got her out. _'It's my fault she's in this condition..' _Naruto thought, her heart pained.

She was so tired from her misadventure... despite the excitedment and hope building in her heart the fatigue of the past day or so caught up with her and she drifted off admist the noise of the alarm. The small girl couldn't even slip into her mindscape, as stressed as she was.

It was with a shock that she woke up, being shook suddenly. Orochimaru was standing over her with an impatient scowl "Get up little brat!"

At the harsh words she stood in fear. "Y-yes, Hebi-sama? " Naruto asked warily. Orochimaru let a smirk cross his face. "We are leaving now," he told her, scooping her up and putting her into a sling across his chest, a massive scroll across his back. "You will cooperate with me or you will learn what it is to be cut apart awake, healed and cut apart again."

Trembling at the massive killing intent, she nodded. "O-okay." Moving too quickly for Naruto to see clearly, Orochimaru shunshin out of the lair into a forest that seemed familiar to Naruto.

Unbeknownsgt to both of them, Dokujaki had slipped into Naruto's clothes, to protect her from whatever threatened her. The small snake cringed at the jostling as they lept from tree to tree.

Naruto had though Anko was fast, but Orochimaru was moving so fast that the scenery was blurring. Closing her eyes to keep her stomach calm, she buried her face into Orochimaru's kimono. To be honest, she really wanted to cry. The little fox girl had really hoped this would be the freedom she wanted, only to have it ripped away from her. Taking hitching deep breathes she calmed herself as to not reveal her pain to her tormenter. Only the saddened Dokujaki noticed her supressed sobs, unable to comfort her.

Every time the exhausted girl began to doze off Orochimaru would wake her, claiming no need for a dead weight. Naruto fought fatigue, the stress of the man's sincere threats continuing her desire to stay awake. After one unfortunate snooze the threat that the sannin made had her pale and bloodless.

_'Hebi-teme, you didn't have to go that far,' _she thought mourningly to herself. But it did its job of keeping her awake.

The sun was rising as they hit a border town of Fire country. After running all day and night in a zig zag pattern to elude persuers, even Orochimaru felt fatigued, having not slept in days. _'This is far enough for now,' _he decided conclusively. Putting the brat, no, his valuable irreplaceable test subject, down for a moment, he rearranged the sling so it sat on her like a cloak, her ears and tail concealed. Satisfied, he himself henged into a nondescript villager.

"If anyone talks to you, you are to say nothing," he commanded her. "You are from here on mute." A spike of killing intent caused an illusion of pain, suffering, and death in Naruto's mind.

She nodded hastily. "Yes Hebi-sama!" she responded in a tight and panicked voice. He glared at her angrily. "And no trying to escape," he snarled. "Or you will be extremely sorry!" A series of fervent nods game from the girl, her legs weak, barely holding her up.

A soft hiss of comfort slipped out of her overalls, followed by Dokujaki. Naruto, surprised, nearly fell.

"So there you are, Dokujaki," Orochimaru said musingly, before frowning sternly. "Do not think I forgot your absense that allowed the subject to escape and cost me my student. You will be punished accordingly."

Dokujaki drooped his head. "Yes Orochimaru-sama.." Naruto brushed her thumb against his back in a silent show of support. Dokujaki visibly perked up, causing Orochimaru to sneer in disgust, unnatural on his henged villagers face."Conceal yourself," he commanded the serpent. Dokujaki nodded before tucking himself back into his kits clothing.

Orochimaru swept Naruto up effortlessly into his lean arms, entering the village. He slipped a passive look onto his face, and nodded pleasantly to the villagers that sent him salutations.

It only took moments to have them checked into a hotel room. Orochimaru put her in the closet with a thread bare blanket, locking her in. Naruto didn't bother to complain at the sleeping arrangement, or the lack of food, and she didn't even try to get out, although she knew she could. She knew she would never make it past Orochimaru, sleeping in the bedroom.

Instead, as Dokujaki slipped out of her clothing to curl around her neck, she curled up and went to sleep. She had an idea, but she needed to do some research in her mindscape.

It took some effort to focus through her fatigue to get into her mindscape. As she landed on the doorstep, a worried Yugito carried the wearily shaking girl into a bedroom.

"You should sleep for a little," Yugito told her, brushing her hand against Naruto's forehead as she tucked the girl in. The girl struggled for a moment, a denial on her lips.

"But..!"

**"Kit, you won't get anything done in this state,"** Kurama told her firmly. **"Sleep first, then work."**

Reluctantly she nodded, closing her eyes. Finally, with a sense of relief, she drifted to sleep.

A.N. Another short chapter.. so what was Naruto's idea? Stay tuned!

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that characterand how they from previous chapters, she will not be on team 'll be on team Gai, replacing TenTen

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial more than 4 votes please.

Gaara:2 and 1/4

Haku:2and 1/5

Aburame Shino:2 and 1/2

Rock Lee:1/3

KaguyaKimimaro: 43/4

Sora:0

Yamato: 8and 1/2


	15. Sealed Hope

Disclaimer: All I own is this story! Alas Naruto is not mine. If it was I'd be filthy rich xD

A.N. Working on this chapter in advance. Not spending near enough time in the mindscape despite the massive amounts of "time" she spends in it. When I start the short stories I'll touch on that more. I might start on that soon.

"Say"

_'Think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**'Bijuu/kami think'**_

Ch 15: Sealed Hope

It was no real surprise that when given the chance to sleep she spent too whole mindscape days in a almost comatose state. With each night of real sleep being a week in the mindscape, life became complicated. With a calender that Yugito and Kurama set up not long after her first surprise arrival, it has become a lifesaver in keeping track of things.

While Kurama and Yugito did not seem to need to 'sleep', the same was not true of Naruto, whom quickly burnt out if she didn't 'rest'. Kurama theorized this was both because she came to the mindscape during her regular sleep, and that interacting with the mindscape cost chakra.

With Naruto resting, Yugito and Kurama sat at the dining room table with cups of tea held gingerly in their hands. Yugito sighed, turning her solemn eyes to Kurama.

"This plan of Naruto's.." she started. "Do you really think it will work? " Kurama closed his vivid ruby eyes, contemplating. After a long moment he gave a slight sigh.

**"If anyone could do it, Naruto could," **the fox finally told her. **"I am more concerned about the chakra cost instead of the workings of the idea itself." **

A creaking noise had them silencing as a yawning Naruto stumbled into the kitchen with rumbled sleep clothes. Yugito marveled again that the mindscape could be as realistic to allow the various wear and tear to appear. Although she was certainly less than pleased when she had to clean the house for the first time in her life.

"G'mornin' mama, papa," Naruto mumbled, flopping bonelessly into a dining chair, taking a deep yawn in. Yugito stood, smiling. "I'll fix you some breakfast," she told the girl fondly.

"Can it be ramen? " Naruto asked, eyes lighting up. Kurama chuckled.

**"Is that all you think about, kit? "** he asked her, trying not to scoff at her indignant look.

"Hey, ramen is the king of all foods! " she cried. At that Kurama rolled his eyes. Yugito giggled, and Naruto refocused her look at her mama.

"I don't know.." she responded. "Okay, sure Naru-chan," she finished, giving into the ensuing puppy eyes. With a squeal Naruto lept up and hugged Yugito. "Thank you! " Yugito pat her head before prying her off and heading into the kitchen.

With a contented sigh Naruto sat back into her chair, pulling the sketchpad and pencil that were always located on the table close to her. Kurama watched impassively.

**"Are you sure about this Naruto? " **Kurama questioned solemnly, using her actual name in the seriousness of it. Naruto looked up from the seal idea she had been working on.

"I have to try," she said slowly, a frown crossing her face. "It may be my only chance to escape." Kurama closed his eyes as he nodded resignedly.

**"Very well," **he replied. **"I will prepare for the chakra required." **He stood, opening his crimson eyes and fixing them on Naruto. **"If you need me I shall be meditating."**

Naruto nodded absentmindedly as Kurama turned and left. Her eyes were glued to the paper and the seal idea she was working on. Hiraishin had been a time/space ability passed down by her father that required a seal on a tri-pronged kunai, utilizing the kinetic force of the thrown kunai to teleport to the location of the airborne kunai.

But what Naruto wanted to do was create a seal on a static target, without the range limit the original Hiraishin had. It would take an insane amount of chakra, life threatening or plain impossible for even the most strong everyday ninja. But Naruto wasn't an everyday ninja, she was a jinchuriki. She hoped that difference would be enough.

The week passed quickly as she completed the seal. It would take considerable amount of chakra just to draw and activate the seal, let alone use it. She had designed it with several fail safes. It would be invisible, one use, the use of it would suppress the chakra used, making it undetectable, both when she used and activated it and when it stood on standby. Even a Hyuuga would have to stare for hours to notice it.

Reluctantly she gave her family one last hug and 'woke up'. It was still dark, and Dokujaki had fallen asleep keeping guard. She lit her finger with chakra, drawing the seal into the wood with her very chakra. The seal glowed dimly, waiting for activation.

As she activated it, the drain on her chakra began to accelerate. _'Too much...' _Kurama let out a startled fox yip unlike him in her head before feeding her his chakra. Her eyes darkened to red and the seal started smoking as the chakra repressing part of the seal fought with the strength of the kyuubi's chakra.

With a final hiss the smoke died out and the activated seal pulsed a glow once before darkening.

_'It worked..'_ was her last thought before losing consciousness.

A.N. Another short chapter. Like yesterday I may post two, dunno.

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they from previous chapters, she will not be on team 'll be on team Gai, replacing TenTen

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial more than 4 votes please.

Gaara:2 and 1/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino:2 and 1/2

Rock Lee:1/3

KaguyaKimimaro: 43/4

Sora:0

Yamato: 8 and 1/2


	16. Enter the Akatsuki

Disclaimer: Dun own Naruto. How could you ever keep him caged?

A.N. Hnng this thunderstorm has given me a massive headache. But regardless with little else to do.. See I had gotten a replacement tablet and have yet to bring all my apps back.. and with the electricity AND internet gone there are few things I can do on it. Writing is one of these. So I'll work, I guess.

"Say"

_'Think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**'Bijuu/kami think'**_

Chapter 16: Enter the Akatsuki

It was reluctantly when Orochimaru realized that the brat wouldn't wake, _'She better not be getting sick! How could she even get chakra exhaustion at her age..' _, that he would have to tend to her. Carrying her for the most part, as he passed great distances, when she finally did wake he was relieved enough that he didn't immediately focus his wrath on her.

Instead, he heated up some pureed soup that he had put in a thermos from a recent hotel with a D ranked katon jutsu before carefully feeding the girl who was unable to even hold her arms up in her fatigue. She eyed him in surprise, a bit questioningly.

A glare crept across his face with a small spike of killing intent as her question was read from her open gaze easily. "Do not attach sentiment to my attention, pathetic child," he snarled. "I simply cannot have you dying."

A minute of silence passed and he wondered if he shouldn't have at least faked affection to gain her trust. She was certainly a curiosity, but near worthless when it came to running tests on her. _"Would it have been better to shape her into a loyal minion?" _he thought belatedly.

The excitement and slight fatigue of the flight from Konoha had dulled his mind a little, he realized with self disgust. He would need to be more careful. He lifted his eyes around the wetlands he was in.

The snake sannin had sent a summon ahead with a message to the occupant of his final destination. It wouldn't do to miss his appointed time. With a suppressed sigh he hurried the child along and put her back in the sling.

For Naruto's part she was mildly confused. Despite having lived in his lab nearly her whole two years of life, she hadn't really interacted with him much. It was times like this that she didn't really know what he wanted from her.

She wasn't aware of it, and he himself had not admitted it to his own mind, but Orochimaru didn't really know either. Was she a test subject? No, well maybe for behaviors and her odd appendages. He did get a sadistic pleasure in cutting her open and measuring her on how long it took to heal. But that wasn't a necessary aspect either.

The girl kept his other test subject alive and capable longer than he would have stayed on his own.. but she was also the reason he lost the subject, and he had perished regardless. A bargaining chip? A potential weapon? Possibilities..

These thoughts he weren't even aware of, having denied them from his conscious mind. Orochimaru was also unaware at the mirror thoughts running through the exhausted mind of one fox girl.

_'Nothing good,'_ Naruto finally concluded. Her idle thoughts led to wondering where they were going. His satisfied gaze and the vastly different landscape with scattered lodgings and barns slowly becoming more condensed told her that they were close.

As he water walked across a massive lake tbe slight drizzle that had begun pelting them hours ago picked up into a steady downpour. The weakened girl could hardly focused her eyes through the rain to whatever was looming in the distance.

As they got closed the man blindfolded her as he slipped into a secret entrance along the side of what was a city of skyscrapers. She knew it was dark as he seemed to slow down, still weaving and jerking in a manner that made the sightless girl a little queasy and out of balance.

He finally came to a stop and she heard a knocking sound in a particular order that was long enough she lost track of the pattern. "Ah," a masculine voice greeted him, as she heard the grating noise of something being slid open. "You are right on time," the voice continued. "But what is this?"

Naruto turned toward the voice, wishing she was able to see. "A valuable test subject," Orochimaru explained smoothly. "And completely tame. I trust there is no issue with it?"

A short and smothered noise of disgust slipped into Naruto's sensitive ears, but if Orochimaru heard it he didn't comment. "No, of course not," the voice replied. "We are honored by your desire to join our cause, and believe you will be a valuable ally."

They started moving again and the grating noise followed by a thunk echoed. The voice spoke up. "You may remove her blindfold," he instructed. "She is unable to deduce where we are, and we have nothing to worry about from a child as young as her."

Orochimaru didn't say a word as he carefully removed the impromptu eye wear. Naruto looked warily around. Unlike the darkness from before these halls were quite bright. She examined the bright orange hair of the man before her. _'Who is he?' _she wondered. _'And where am I?'_

She examined him more fully, taking in the black cloak with red clouds. A shock of terror hit her like a lightning bolt. _'Akatsuki! '_ she thought in a near blind panic, remembering Yugito's past lessons. She began to shiver.

Not only was she captive of a sadistic serpent, she was caged in the lair of hungry predators that would sooner eat her than look at her. She wondered what else could go wrong as they went deeper into dangerous territory.

A.N. Well that's it for now! Thanks for your support!

A.N. 2 : Power outage eergg. It took forever to come back and I only finally got to update :

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they from previous chapters, she will not be on team 'll be on team Gai, replacing TenTen

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial more than 4 votes please.

Gaara:2 and 1/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino:2 and 1/2

Rock Lee:1/3

KaguyaKimimaro: 43/4

Sora:0

Yamato: 8 and 1/2


	17. Paper Crane Savior

Disclaimer: Don't own myself a Naruto, cept that one time I bought a fancy ramen.

**Naruto: Its MAELSTROM not FISHCAKE! Grr.**

A.N. Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. I was feeling miserable and crashed at 7pm. Dang back. Well I will try to make it up to you! Onwards to the story!

"Say"

_'Think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**'Bijuu/kami think'**_

Ch 17: Paper Crane Savior

It has been a long few days. Surprisingly she had not yet been killed. Disgusted by Orochimaru even having a test subject, and further more lab he set up quickly from his scroll, the one Orochimaru mockingly called Leader-sama had decided to turn a blind eye.

But Dokujaki aside, Orochimaru neglected Naruto completely, and Naruto was getting pretty darn tired of being in a chakra enhanced dog kennel in an abandoned storage room. Unable to relieve herself and rarely given food, she was feeling pretty ragged.

But this only made Naruto more determined to get out. When she had decided her chakra sufficiently recovered she made another attempt Hiraishin her escape. What she didn't expect was that her child's chakra pool, although massive for her age, was not yet large enough to complete the transaction.

So what she did end up with was a fainting spell and another case of chakra exhaustion. She couldn't tell what felt worse, her pounding head with Hebi-teme snarking at her while he shook her like a rag doll, or the resounding disappointment that echoed through her mind.

Orochimaru, thinking her to have a disease inflicting her chakra, had no time to investigate. He couldn't leave her unattended.. but not long after setting up his lab he had been ordered into his work in the Akatsuki. He himself had been ordered to both kill and collect bounties, and provide backup to his new teammate Sasori, who managed the Akatsuki spy network.

So he had made his meeting with Pein, and issued an ultimatum. "You will only keep me as your "valuable ally" so long as my test subject does not escape." He didn't need to say "alive and well". It was implied.

So began the series of changing faces that filled her life, amidst attempts to Hiraishin. The attempts always made her tired, and often faint, but it was the strange people surrounding her that highlighted her life.

The first person she saw outside Orochimaru and Dokujaki was a pretty girl with blue hair.

Konan had been annoyed at first when Pein had requested her help in one of Orochimaru's rooms. She had been told that Orochimaru had a test subject and that she was to tend it while he was absent. _'Figures, that creep probably has some nasty mutant beast to take care of..why me?' _

The young lady knew that Orochimaru was strong, but he was sadistic, and she didn't forget that he had wanted to murder her on their first encounters while she was yet a child. _'The Sannin,' _she thought venomously. And now she was stuck being a petsitter to one of the sick bastards horrifying experiments.

She opened the room hesitantly, before flinching back. It _reeked_ in there! She covered her nose at the smell of body waste before edging her way into the dim room, the only light being from the chakra enhanced glowing cage. _'What sort of monstrosity is this..?' _she thought in a sickly curious manner.

Konan had prepared herself for many things, tentacles, fangs, deformed faces and body. What she didn't expect was the dull blue eyes of a filthy and unhappy little girl looking up at her despairingly wasn't one of them. Shock, horror and pity filled the woman, along with no small amount of flashbacks into her own troubled past.

On Naruto's part there was little in the way of comfort. In the several days it took to recharge her chakra she had been at first unable, and then reluctant to enter the mindscape for the chakra cost it took from her. Kura-papa could only speak with her briefly and haltingly, spending time in meditation to keep Naruto's food and sleep deprived body from crashing completely.

The first time she had messed herself had been humiliating, but now, from Orochimaru's neglect, there was simply nothing left to pass. She was thirsty and hungry but in these couple days had not gotten to the point of devouring her own excrement. But her determination was wearing thin as her parched and exhausted body drove her to near madness.

The failure in getting herself out of this mess had broken her little heart and soul. So it was in that state that Konan found her, hopeless and alone.

Konan was initially repulsed by the sight of the little girl. But the dejected expression the girl focused on her pricked her battle hardened hard. The chakra cage was an obstacle for the girl, but not Konan. With a firm yank of her hand, also chakra enhanced, the kennel fell apart. The origami lady paused for a moment, fiercely aware that her clothing was about to get ruined, before sweeping the shocked girl into her arms.

Konan was sure the girl was terrified, but for whatever reason she didn't know. Naruto could only tremble weakly as the Akatsuki member carried her off. She was too weak from chakra exhaustion to even struggle, and on that note the shock wasn't helping. _'Have they discovered what I am? '_

Naruto closed her eyes, unwilling to meet her end in the face. When surprisingly gentle hands started tugging at her rags of an outfit she had been wearing since her failed escape, she stifled a shriek as her eyes flashed open in alarm.

The hands stilled as the beautiful woman spoke softly to the fox child. "Do not be frightened," the woman told her. "I am simply going to wash you off." The woman spoke slowly and gently, unsure if Naruto could even speak.

Naruto examined the room briefly. _'Yes,'_ she realized. _'This is a bath room.' _She herself was standing next to a small shower attachment. Naruto met the woman's eyes, and nodded. "O-okay.."

But yet the girl hesitates, watching Konan with frightened eyes. Konan knew those eyes, that mistrusted even simple kindness. She had once had them herself. Well, there was one way to tackle this problem. Slowly, Konan began stripping off her Akatsuki robe, now ruined, and the soft and durable kunoichi wear beneath it. When she was totally nude she crouched in front of the child.

"Now its your turn, and we'll bathe together," Konan said kindly. Naruto had watchd stunned as the regal and dangerous woman exposed herself in one of the most vulnerable ways possible. The woman stood cloth less, weaponless, and completely trusting in front of the abused girl.

In the back of her mind she was somewhat glad Dokujaki had not been there when this woman came. It would be hard to explain this. But the (surprisingly) kind lady had trusted her.. her resolve built as she met the eyes of the patiently waiting woman.

The struggled with her overall buttons, yet the woman just allowed her to take her time. When she finally managed to get the last of it off, she was embarrassed at her disgustingly coated body. Naruto had begun to notice the new rashes from her lack of cleanliness when her clothing rubbed abrasively against it in its removal. She covered her nudity with a matted tail.

Konan raised a single eyebrow in surprise, but mercifully said nothing. It was a slow and arduous task, but sitting the girl on the shower stool she dutifully washed the filth off of her and her hair. _'Fox ears too?' _

It was a test on even her patience, washing the filth out of her tail and brushing the mats out, the little girl cringing every time Konan hit a snag. The fox girl stayed incredibly tense, but grew even more so when she was clean, and Konan picked her up from behind.

Terror flickered through Naruto's mind at the contact. _'What now?' _It was with some surprise that she was covered in warmth as Konan sunk into a deep bath.

Konan watched the girls ears, flat against the girls head as she sat frozen and stiff. Konan began to hug soothingly. Between the humming and the comforting warmth Naruto finally began to relax, the fatigue from these horrible days catching up with her. She almost missed the words the woman said to her.

"What is your name?" the woman questioned quietly. Orochimaru never named her, hadn't even asked if she had chosen one from the books she had read... and painfully she realized that Dokujaki hadn't either. This woman was the first person that had asked her. Should she answer?

"...my name," she started, a little wonderingly. "..is Naruto." Unseen to her a gentle smile crossed the woman's face. "Hello Naruto-chan." Naruto took a rapid intake of breath. Her name on an actual persons lips was wonderful. "My name is Konan."

"Konan..." she mouthed the name, committing it to memory. _'Such kindness..this is Akatsuki? '_ Finally the day caught up with her and resting against the bosom of a stranger she drifted off.

A.N. Sort of didn't end up how I planned it, but I like it better this way. I know there are typos in this chapter, but I'm writing it on a tablet that has no spell check and I'd rather get the chapter out now and edit it later when I'm home. As you see the speak/thought stuff is not at the top and the voting is not at the bottom. These have to be copy pasted which is not something easily attempted on this tablet, so lets just say this rolls over from last chapter with a 1/2 point to both Gaara and Shino. Hope you enjoyed!

A.N.2. Evidently login is berked so I'll have to update later. This will be a very late chapter.

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they from previous chapters, she will not be on team 'll be on team Gai, replacing TenTen

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial more than 4 votes please.

Gaara:2 and 4/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino:3

Rock Lee:1/3

KaguyaKimimaro: 43/4

Sora:0

Yamato: 9 and 1/2


	18. A New Legend

Disclaimer: I will never hold ownership of Naruto..wahhh

A.N. I wrote this back to back after the last chapter. I'm slightly unsure where I'm going to take this chapter. Ah well.

"Say"

_'Think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**'Bijuu/kami think'**_

Ch 18: A New Legend

Unknown to the sleeping Naruto a furious Konan was facing off again Orochimaru, having just returned. Sasori watched visibly impassive to the argument but inwardly amused.

"..I don't care what she is to you," the woman snapped. "No child should be starved like that, and caged in her own filth!"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes warningly, killing intent leaking. "It is nothing but a lab rat and I will do what I wish to it!" he snarled. He refused to admit to himself that she had a point, and that she'd be useless dead.

Konan raged, her eyes flashing in fury, but responded coldly, unwilling to expose the fire in her heart. It would be like admitting her own weakness to the sadist.

"She has a _name_, you monster," she said in an icy voice. Orochimaru paused in his vent, visibly surprised as his eyebrows rose to new heights.

"_Reaaallyy.._" he crooned in an interested voice. New data! Konan resisted recoiling from his identifiable intent.

"Yes," she growled softly. "And if you had asked her you would know it."

"And I will, once you give her back to me," Orochimaru said in a persuasive manner. Konan's eyes hardened into flakes of ice.

"And let you torment her again? Over my dead body!" she clipped out.

Orochimaru smiled menacingly. "That could be arranged.." he said, starting to slither forward.

Pein has seen enough. He strode out of the shadows, standing in between them. "Enough," he said. He turned to Orochimaru. "I shall assign caretakers when you do not require her, and you will not dispute that." He turned to Konan's frozen gaze, watching her sternly. "When Orochimaru requires the girl you will allow him to take her and do what he will. You will NOT neglect your duties."

The almost invisible hurt in her eyes made him wish that he could play favorites for his old friend's sake. But he didn't express any of this in any noticeable way. Both backed down, neither truly happy with the arrangement but accepting in this manner.

"I will return her when she is in better health," Konan said stiffly, looking away. A somewhat lazy grin slipped across Orochimaru's face. "No need to rush," he told her. "Sasori and myself are not able to stay long." His eyes narrowed and the grin became malicious. "But out of curiosity, what is her name? "

"Her name is Naruto," she told him reluctantly. Orochimaru didn't think he could get any more surprised. _'The name of the main character in that fools failed novel? ' _he wondered. _'But where could she have gotten that?__'_ He dismissed it from his mind for later.

Orochimaru and Konan left the scene of their argument. Pein watched Konan until she disappeared around the corner before turning towards where Orochimaru was leaving leisurely. He spotted Sasori watching him penetratingly before the puppeteer, having been noticed, rolled his shoulder dismissively before following his partner.

Pein narrowed his eyes at the receding back before leaving to his office. He had paperwork to go over from their funding. He had to make sure he had enough financial backing for his future plans..and his beloved city. With the true, secret leader absent to Kirigakura, controlling from the shadows doing Kami knows what, Pein had assumed a real leadership to the group. He had heard rumors of the Mizukage descending into madness..

Meanwhile, with Konan.

Konan was surprised to return to her room and find Naruto awake, frozen still on the bed as if afraid the room was boobytrapped. It had been, for necessities sake, being the only girl in the base full of violent maniacs, but she had disabled them with the child in her room.

Naruto's eyes flickered to the woman slowly enter the room. She was struggling with her ability to distrust Konan for being Akatsuki, but faced with the reality of the situation it became much harder. She remembered what Kura-papa had told her.

_**" 'If she knew what you were she would kill you in a heartbeat,' **he had told her **'But she seems sincere with her kindness right now. Take advantage of that as long as you can, but be wary.'"**_

It was deceitful, and she didn't like it, but Naruto knew it was a matter of life or death. She forced herself to relax. "Konan-san," she greeted quietly. Konan approached slowly, not wanting to frighten the child. "Hello Naru-chan," the blue haired lady greeted back. "Are you hungry? "

The child's stomach responded first as she was even opening her mouth. She grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "Uh huh.."

Konan simply smiled kindly and opened her arms to the girl. To Naruto's credit she only hesitated a moment before wandering over to be picked up. Naruto was hyper aware of the soft women's shirt that had been converted into a dress for her. Her tail hung to her exposed ankles and soles of her feet.

Konan carried her to Pein and Konan's shared dining area. It was already afternoon and starved children shouldn't eat much... she sat the girl on the too big for her chair. It dwarfed Naruto completely. It only took a moment of humor for Konan to decide how to fix this. A fat cook book with a dish towel over it became a instant improvised booster seat.

Dishing Naruto out a cup of miso soup and small bowl of rice (things that they always kept warm and available) Konan watched as Naruto dug in. Konan tisked and took the chopsticks away as Naruto flashed a betrayed look at Konan.

"Naru-chan, you can't eat so fast or you'll get sick," she scolded. A remorseful not acknowledged her. Konan returned the chopsticks with a smile. "Slowly now." Konan remember the first time she had been given food after being hungry so long. The illness she had gained had been painful and miserable.

Pein slipped into the room as Naruto was finishing. It was the Yahiko form Naruto had first seen and she had no knowledge of his other paths. He eyed Konan reproachfully.

"Konan, you have to begin your evening rounds," Pein scolded in a mild voice. Naruto watched the man curiously. _'His eyes are sort of scary,' _she thought, looking at their swirls. Pein met her gaze for a moment before flicking his eyes to her ears. _'How unusual..a kekkai genkai? ' _His eyes trailed down to her lazily wagging tail before meeting her unflinching curious stare.

He turned back to Konan who was chewing on her bottom lip, an old nervous habit. "Can I.. take her with me? " Pein nodded in acquiescence, secretly hesitant in denying her something that small when he could not oblige her earlier in attempt to keep the peace.

"Just, as usual, be careful, and keep a watchful eye over the city," he told her, before leavimg the two.

After Naruto finished eating Konan dressed her warmly in a overly large sweater and plastic bag poncho. Naruto was not sure why she was wearing a plastic bag... Konan stopped her fiddling with it by picking her up.

They moved too fast for Naruto to see as Konan shunshined to a secret exit, which seemed to be a huge pipe opening to a canopy roof. The woman seemed to grow white wings from her cloak as they lifted into the air. A single "feather" brushed across Naruto's face as they rose. _'Paper...?'_

The need for the plastic bag grew obvious as they exited the canopy to a steady rain. The sunset breaking through the clouds slightly lit Konan up to the shinobi and civilians alike, below her in the towering city. A keen eye of a kunoichi perched upon a tall skyscraper examined the flying figure before her eyes flew open in shock.

She was not the only one to see this, and the gossiping rose to new heights as it was something that the everyday people would see the untouchable figures with regularly.

It only took one thought for the rumors to slant and a new legend to be born, something that the people in question would not hear till much later.

For there was Kami(God), his Tenshi (angel) and the Megumi (daughter) that watched over their city. This rumor would cause heartbreak for the Tenshi in the far future, but that is a story for another day.

A.N. I'm actually pretty happy how this turned out. So begins Naruto's stay with the Akatsuki. Lemme know, did any of you expect this?

Don't forget to vote! Remember, if you want to suggest a name that is not on this list, when you nominate, put a short summary with why you choose that character and how they from previous chapters, she will not be on team 'll be on team Gai, replacing TenTen

If you vote for two characters they'll each get 1/2, if you vote for four they will each get 1/4 In this manner you can vote for multiple characters but only get partial more than 4 votes please.

Gaara:2 and 4/4

Haku:2 and 1/5

Aburame Shino:3

Rock Lee:1/3

KaguyaKimimaro: 43/4

Sora:0

Yamato: 9 and 1/2


	19. Getting Under the Shark's Skin

Chapter 19: Samehada's Sandwich AKA Getting under the shark's skin : A new friendship

"Say"

_'Think'_

**"Bijuu/kami say"**

_**'Bijuu/kami think'**_

Konan was faced with a dilemma. It was her turn to patrol, so she couldn't watch Naruto, but she couldn't just bring a common Ame shinobi into Akatsuki headquarters. Part of having a god-like reputation is that you just DIDN'T consort with regular people, and Naruto was supposed to be a secret anyhow, albeit a poorly kept one.

Usually she brought Naruto on her patrols, but the storm right now was beyond the normal rain of Amekagure, pouring and blowing so heavy that patrols were a pain, and she knew she could handle a lightning strike, but she wasn't sure about Naruto, as fiesty and energetic as the the child was.

Naruto may have had the same chakra presence as Kisame, the "Bijuu-less Jinchuriki", but that didn't mean she knew how to use it. But when she contemplated, only for a moment, Kisame, she realized that while bloodthirsty in battle, the man had honor and patience, having taught children before, and he was a suitable temporary guardian for Naruto.

So Naruto was left with Kisame, much to his disapproval and stunned regret. _'A four year old, really?' _he growled to himself, as he closed his eyes in frustration. He was prepared to just ignore the child, as he tried to tune out the playful noises of Naruto scribbling. A moment of silence then.. and then a surprising sound.

Samehada was… purring? He opened his eyes and turned to the side of the sofa where he was sitting, Samehada resting beside him, just within reach.

Naruto was petting one of the slivers of the blade of Samehada, and Samehada, whom he was mentally connected to, seemed to be in a state of dazed contentness. He wondered at the sword, who didn't seem to be drawing on Naruto with the cruel deliberateness that the blade normally did to the ones that came into contact with him.

Instead.. his eyes narrowed as he focused in on the slightly glowing palm of Naruto. Naruto seemed to be feeding the blade deliberately, with a chakra pool that was nearly as large as his own. _'No,'_ he thought, his eyes widening, _'She's shielding her signature, it must be larger than even mine.'_

He knew that a chakra signature hidden that well would only be able to be sensed by someone with a chakra pool as large as himself, and having lived with that size of chakra and focusing on the drain that Samehada caused his enemies, he knew well when to recognize something that crazily large.

"What are you doing!?" he snapped, after a few minutes of observing. The child jumped, her awareness having focused minutely on the sword itself. Her hand left the sword, which then whined, at the child vocally, all while mentally growling at Kisame. _'Sorry my friend, I must make sure you are safe first.'_

"Um," Naruto stuttered at the focused killing intent of a monster, before raising her eyes to stare at him defiantly. _'Let no one say the kid doesn't have guts!'_ he wondered mentally.

"I was just making friend with Same-san!" she snapped. "He wanted a snack so I shared with him!" Samehada gave a mental nod of agreement, before bending to touch Naruto again, his blades flat as to not shred her skin. She glanced at him with a friendly smile. Kisame was more surprised than before. This was the first time someone besides himself recognized Samehada's sentience and treated him with the respect of a person, instead of a weapon.

Kisame smirked. _'This kid is interesting, let's see what else she can do.'_ "Well, Samehada seems to trust you," he mused aloud. "Do you have any interest in kenjutsu?" A wry smile drifted across Naruto's place as Samehada reassured Naruto of Kisame's trustfulness. Kisame didn't know that with the ability to talk mentally with her tenants, that certain telepathic abilities weren't beyond her, if the entity she was talking to had similar abilities.

Naruto steppes back, giving her a few feet space around her, before twirling in a manner that to the unaware would be a simple dance, but to anyone with a masters ability in kenjutsu would be recognized as a deadly dance indeed.

She looked at him with something hidden behind her gaze, something unsure but bright. Kisame acknowledge the intelligence there before it faded away to childishness again.

"Maybe just a little Kisame-niisan!" she grinned innocently. Kisame's smirk widened, his sharp teeth bared in a bloodthirsty delight. _'Very deceptive, the little minnow,' _he wondered. He knew then he wasn't going to speak a word of this to anyone else. His loyalty wasn't truly to Akatsuki. He had joined Akatsuki to have powerful opponents to fight, and a goal to his disillusioned heart. He knew he was a monster, and yet this child seemed to recognize that and dismiss it as unimportant.

His loyalty was to his closest and most reliable friend, Samehada, and he realized as he glanced at his again purring sword, that Samehada would never harm this child who actually took the time to understand the sentient blade.

"Why do you hide yourself, gaki?" he asked the Naruto who seemed to puff up at the mild insult before calming and thinking carefully.

"Cuz despite my skills," she started, "I'm still just four. And everyone else has lots of skills too." She smiled wryly at the sharkman. "Orochi no baka may mistreat me, and I may despise him, but at four I cannot hope to escape him." Not that she hadn't been trying to access the Hiraishin, but while her chakra reserves had grown, and Kisame had sense Kura-papa's chakra, she had limited control over it, so she expended it wastefully.

Kisame tilted his head in a mild nod, recognizing this as a truth. "Right gaki, you have no hope to match up with the rest of us yet," he commented. In hindsight that was obvious.

Kisame watched as Naruto wandered behind the sofa where she had been scribbling with crayons. Only she hadn't been scribbling, he realized, as she handed him a pile of paper with several seals on each paper. He raised an eyebrow and met her unrepentive gaze.

"And what are these, little minnow?" he asked, surprised at vocalizing the new endearment. He had seen the seals were doublelayered, but was unsure what the usage was. He had a very limited exposure to seals, mostly based on the few generic seals that had been stolen from the ruins of Whirlpool during Kiri's short stint of invading.

He was surprised to see her smile go a little shy. _'Just a child after all,' _he realized. _'A prodigy, but looking for approval despite that. How long has she hidden herself, only wanting someone to praise her, but unable to share for fear of losing her life.' _

"Sandwiches for Same-san," she replied much to his surprise. "I put a little nummy chakra in there and then you place it against Samehada it will share it with him when I'm gone." She turned a fond expression on the sword who was just as surprised as Kisame. Samehada trusted the child… and she hadn't tried to do it harm. So Kisame decided to trust her too. Both eyebrows were raised now.

_'To share valuable chakra so casually, and show me these seals despite her fears.. What is this kid?'_

"Samehada thanks you," Kisame finally acknowledge. Her bright eyes danced at him. _'She already knew that, didn't she?'_

_**'Are you sure of this, kit?' **_Kurama finally asked Naruto as Konan escorted her away. _**'Wouldn't exposing these skills put you in danger?'**_

_'No, Kura-papa, lies are impossible while in telepathy, you taught me that yourself, and Same-san said Kisame-niisan was trustworthy,'_ she thought back.

And so a beautiful friendship began. Kisame had gotten on so well with Naruto that Konan often left her with him, and they used the excuse to share skills and practice together. Naruto was able to improve her skills because while knowing the skills mentally, her actual muscles needed to practice as well.

And so the months passed..

A.N. This chapter didn't do anything that I had planned, except the seals. I guess that's what happens when you write from your heart instead of your mind.


	20. Lessons Better Left Unsaid

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto

A.N. Warning: there is going to be spanking further in, but after all the morbidness I'm sure thats not as bad. Also Hidan's dirty mouth.

Ch 20: Lessons Better Left Unsaid

Naruto cackled evilly in her head. _'Ko-neechan should know better than to lock a sealing expert in for bedtime! ' _she crowed to herself, as she snuck down the hall.

_**'I disapprove of this action deeply,'**_ her Kura-papa rumbled in his deep bijuu voice. _**'When you sleep we are going to have a talk about this with your mother.'**_

Naruto wasn't too worried. As she got older the time stretch was eased to a day extra instead of weeks extra in the mindscape as she slept. They had managed to ease it back just in time, as her mental aging and sense of reality seemed to he distorting.

Naruto appreciated that idea, but she didn't really like it at all! So she had decided to rebel, and she was going to make it count. Its not like her parents would do anything to her, right?

And it was true in a way, that after her torture at the hands of Orochimaru they were very reluctant to punish her.

And now, she had begun to exploit that. First it was just a sneak into the kitchen, another was trying, in reality, to practice the Rasegan when she didn't have the control to pull it off yet without supervision, and her rule breaking had become increasingly risky.

Tonight she had decided to explore the central part of the Akatsuki base, much to her father's worry and anger. But she had stopped listening to him, so he settled back to watch, prepared to step in if necessary.

Meanwhile, one bounty hunter, and one Jashinist, were lounging in the central office meeting area, or as Hidan said "That motherfucking heathens den." Which didn't stop him from using it, obviously. It had those nice leather "better than goddamned skin" and porno mags. (that he neglected to mention he put there himself, on Akatsuki's budget, "because I'm damned sick of those shitty cooking magazines ")

The door slowly creaked open and Kakuzu looked up from counting his ryo irritably, ready to verbally rip into whoever made him lose his place. But there was no one there!

Hidan let out a cackle as he dropped his scythe from where he was polishing it and glared threateningly, a bloodthirty and manic grin on his face.

"Who was fucking stupid enough to let a goddamned six year old in here," he snapped with a mix of madness and psychotic bliss. _'And just when I was getting bored of this shit.'_

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at the girl who rolled under the lazy swing of his scythe. It was obvious Hidan was only trying to frighten the girl, but the shock on her face was from something else entirely.

"You said bad words!" Naruto gasped in horror. Hidan raised a brow. "Whoop de fucking da, get the hell over it." He mounted the scythe over his back with chakra, and grabbed the girl by the back of her shirt.

"Now who the fuck are you?!" he snapped angrily at the girl, disliking mysteries. Naruto grinned in response, but it was not a challenging grin, or a threatening one, but just friendliness, which was purely alien to the Jashinist.

"Who the fuck cares?" Naruto responded. Hidan barked out a laugh and tossed the girl on the sofa before removing his scythe and flopping down next to her. "I like you kid! You've got some fucking guts!"

Kakuzu frowned and turned back to counting, deciding to ignore the whole situation. Conversation went on lowly for a minute, before something gained his attention.

"So I'll look like that when I'm older? " a voice chirped. The girl! He quickly rose his gaze. The girl was on Hidan's LAP while they were looking at PORN. A dark strands quickly lashed out, beheading his partner and grabbing the girl away from her poor positioning.

"AH!" Naruto cried, as Hidan's head rolled to a stop in front of where she was placed. Her new friend!

The decapitated head glared. "What the hell man?! " Naruto blinked confused as Kakuzu stood, grabbing the head by the hair and shaking it.

"Don't be such a deviant you horrible waste of space!" Kakuzu snapped throwing the head at the body that just barely caught it. He ignored the mumbling as he guided the child over to the desk.

The rest of the evening was spent with Kakuzu as he taught her accounting, and Hidan mumbled cuss words as he held his head still till it was connected to his body.

As a sleepy Naruto snuck back to her room she realized two things. Swearing was fun, and money was important.

This lesson lasted until she fell asleep and Yugito grabbed her by her ear, lecturing in a angry voice. The feel of a hand against her rear had her unlearning those lessons fast.

"I'm soorrryyyy...!" she wailed. She didn't try to sneak out of her room for frivilous reasons again. It wasn't until Yugito was hugging the wailing child that Naruto realized that just because she was punished didn't mean Yugi-mama loved her any less.

And so the years pass.

A.N. I know this chapter was shorter than most of them but I was really sick of Hidan and I don't know how to write out spanking very well. I really dislike cussing but to stay in character Hidan has to cuss =_= Please forgive me!


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